Messing With Time: Marauder Style
by Clarista
Summary: The trio is send back in time for their sixth year...about 19 years ago when the smart n sexay Marauders lived to play pranks...and suddenly love blooms out in all the WRONG directions! Updated CHAPTER 31
1. Heat

Disclaimer: I don't own HP cause if I did there is NO WAY, I'd NEVER EVER kill Sirius Black!!! I mean she just HAD to mention how totally HOT he was and what a SEXY rebel he was running away and being all good when all his family where dark wizards and witches!!!!!!!! Aaaaaaaaaargh…and why did he get killed by his STUPID cousin???? Nope if I owned HP…Sirius would've grabbed Harry and flew away with his motorcycle!!! Heh heh…though the whole bit about being the first person to escape Azkaban was kinda sexy!

A/N: I really wish JK would do this in her next book…sent Harry back in time and all "sob"…I can't imagine reading the 6th book without Sirius Black in it…and how is Harry supposed to study and not fall behind after what happened to Sirius Black…his father and brother figure…anyway this fic is about how Dombledore sends Harry to study for his 6th year back in time…he'll explain it himself…ENJOY!!!!!!!!!

Another year at Hogwarts, Harry thought, I wonder what kind of misery this year is gonna bring. How many more friends am I gonna lose?

It had been months since Sirius' death, yet to Harry it was as though no time had passed. Every night he watched him fall, and saw it some more during the day. He'd be reading the newspaper and suddenly Sirius' face would flash before him; haunted grey eyes embedded in a face mingled with laughter and horror. Harry's wounds remained fresh and he felt so very emotionally exhusted. He had not splept properly once that summer and physically he felt just as frail. He sometimes wondered how he lived with a hole so wide inside of him, the hole that nothing seemed to fill up, not once nor ever. Other times he wondered if it was eating him up from inside and that in no time there would be nothing left of him, just an empty shell, hollow from the inside. It was those times that Harry woke up to find his pillow damp.

"Ouch!" Harry heard Hermione's squeal, and half realized he had stepped on her foot.

These days Harry was only half aware of things. He simply couldn't bare to let all of his surroundings sink in. He couldn't bare to recognise that Sirius was no more, that he was less than the shoes on his feet or the wooden wand in his pocket...that Sirius was now nothing.

"I wonder if Dumbledore has added extra security measures now that Voldemort is out in the open," Hermione said as the trio made their way towards the Great Hall, however they were suddenly stopped by a rather peculiar looking McGonagall.

"Professor Dumbledore would like a word with you three, it seems he has other plans for you this year-"

"ALL of us?"

"Yes Mr. Weasley, all of you. Now if you would all follow me into his office you will know shortly of what these plans are." With that McGonagall set off and after exchanging shocked looks, the trio scrammbled to catch up.

They walked in silence, though Harry suspected Ron and Hermione were exchanging meaningfull looks. He didn't feel like joining in and instead took upon himself to enjoy the silence. Harry didn't want to remember the last time he was in Dumbledore's office, he felt as though his wounds were still too fresh, that night seemed too close. As they walked towards his desk, Harry distinctly remembered his burning anger as he tried to rip, break, and destroy anything in his sight. He could also remember his desperate need to run, to keep running, and to never look back. Deep in his heart these feelings had never left. He would never get rid of the anger, the need to destroy anything close enough to reach. There was not one thing he owned that he hadn't imagined putting his fist through. There was not once when he looked at his firebolt and imagined flying off and away to a place where Sirius had never been and would not be missed. Harry only wondered how long he could resist all these mind consuming desires.

The desire to run was the hardest to overcome. It took every bit of his courage every single morning to not get up and blast a hole through his bedroom wall. To not get on his broom and get out and away. The task of living and going through everything just like before, as though Sirius had never existed, was by far the hardest thing he had done in his life. The deep hole inside of him was mighty hard to ignore. He often wondered if he could_ ever_ move on. Perhaps if he were to go to a place where there would be no reminders or if he ran forever...would then the pain grow dull?

"Harry, you cannot run. It will always catch up. These things follow faster than you can possibly take flight. It will be waiting for you at your new destination, wherever that may be." Harry who had resolved to keep his eyes focused on the headmaster's beard, was surprised to hear him speak. Out of the corner of his eyes he watched McGonagall removing herself from the office and knowing what was to come, he lowered his eyes, now intently watching Dumbledore's desk "you must accept it in order to heal, even though the pain will never really disappear."

"But how can I accept? This was all my fault. He _gave_ me the mirrors…if only I could…" Harry felt just as hepless as he sounded. The what ifs were by far the worst.

"Well Harry we may not always be completely aware of our own full capabilities," Dombledore said simply. His voice was so gentle and tinkling that Harry's eyes shot up to meet his, "I, however, have some idea of my ability. I am going to use some of my resources to give you a treat, something I am sure you will appreciate more than any other. You have much coming for you in the future. I could not stop myself from giving you this as almost a last meal. I hope you don't mind being seperated from your fellow Gryffindors for this school year."

"What do you mean sir?" Hermione asked, exchanging bewildered looks with Ron.

"Harry has dealt with much these past years. He is deeply scarred and I doubt he is focused enough on school works, not as much as he should be. understandable considering what you've gone through, Harry, but you must know that more than ever, magical learning is crucial to your destiny. I simply cannot have you fall behind, and I would be more than glad to help you move on ahead farther. After much consideration I have realized the only way to assure you'll learn what you need to and more, I'll have to send you away—"

"Where?" Ron asked sounding horrified, Harry however felt…relieved. Nothing would serve him better than somewhere else. Nothing felt better than a break from normal.

"Magical learning really doesn't change much through time, so I'm going to sent Harry back 19 years in time…to when his parents where in their 6th year as well. I've thought this over many times and am pretty sure we can all agree with Harry having an easier time studying surrounded by excellent students, as well as people he loves dearly. Now Harry though I know you will never, I must still warn you not to tell them anything about the future and let the explanation lie with me, tell them that you attended Beaubatons, and for reasons you do not know, your parents and I agreed to sent you to Hogwarts."

"W-WHAT!!!" Harry was sure he hadn't heard him right…did Dumbledore just say he was gonna sent him _back in time_???

"But Harry I need you to promise me that this isn't going to be a vacation, it will have it's privileges for you, but you've got to keep in mind that you are there to study your hardest and try to learn as much as you can from your company," Dumbledore said all this looking very stern.

"Of-of course," Harry said and watched as Dumbledore faced formed a smile. Sending Dumbledore a nod, Harry felt for the first time in a very long time, his heart swelling with happiness.

"Now, Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley, what is it going to be? Am I right in believing you will be most pleased to accompany Harry for your whole 6th year in Hogwarts, exactly 19 years previous to now?" Both Ron and Hermione nodded enthusiastically, making Harry's grin widen and Dumbledore to beam brightly at them.

Without saying another word, Dombledore got up took out a beautiful mini-pot made entirely from gold and tapped it 19 times, before muttering something Harry couldn't quite hear, and suddenly a golden mist appeared above it.

"I've decided to place you in your good friends' dormitory. It is so you wouldn't be confronted by a great number of unfamiliar Gryffindores at once. So now place your hands in the gold mist," Dombledore ordered and when they did he waved his wand once and everything turned black.

Harry couldn't believe it when he suddenly saw a dormitory much like his own instead of the headmasters' office. He turned to Hermione grinning and saw that was staring ahead looking throughoutly mortified. Turning his head to match her line of view, Harry soon realized that they were not alone. Oh no, there he was, the younger version of Sirius. Now in most cases Harry would have been glad to see him, but now…he felt as though it would be best if the 3 of them could just disappear on the spot.

Sure there was Sirius, alive, healthy, young, handsome…and shirtless. Here was a 16-years-old Sirius Black, making out almost viciously with a slim dark hair girl. Harry stood there frozen watching as his godfather pulled away and ripped the girl's shirt off sending buttons flying. But that wasn't all; suddenly a curly haired blond appeared getting off his bed…naked. She wrapped her arms around his waist, pushing herself against his back and seemed to lead him back towards the bed.

"We shouldn't be here," whispered a very red Hermione.

Harry nodded in reply, he himself just as rich a shade of crimson, and looked around at Ron who looked torn between watching the two girls and wanting to run off and hide underneath one of the beds, "Harry, what are we gonna do?"

But Harry couldn't speak, of all the times…why had they arrived just when THIS was happening? How are we going to get out of this??? Yeah more like ARE we going to get out of this, Harry thought irritably, but before he could move on with his thoughts the dormitory door burst open. The loud bang started the swarming threesome, making Sirius pull away and come off the bed to greet the intruders. The girls soon dissappeared behind crimson curtains as the trio ducked behind the curtained bed, farthest from the door.

"Padfoot what do you think curtains are for?" came Harry's dad's voice.

"At least he kept them off the floor, remember last year just before Easter-"

"I try not to. Thanks alot, Moony."

"Sorry mate," Sirius said grinning as he made his way towards his three friends, "didn't think you guys were gonna come up so early."

"Had to," Remus said looking as though he was holding back from laughing, "Evans was smoking…literally!"

"No way! You actually went through with that?" Sirius snorted.

"Yup, she seemed mad and all, but you could so see her eyes dancing with suppressed laughter," this time Sirius wasn't the only one who had snorted.

"He just went up to her in front of everyone and said, "Man, Evans you're smokin' hot!" and she's all glaring and trying to ignore him, and he is like "No really!!!" and we all decided to run for it!" Remus told Sirius who by now had doubled over with laughter. It seemed pranking Lily was a frequent habbit of the Marauders.

They chatted for only a short while more before Sirius bid them goodnight and made his way back to his bed. The other three too bid their own goodnights and began to rip off their clothes. Harry felt Hermione's cold sweaty hand tighten around his arm and realized that they'd have to step out of the shadows soon, if not now.

"What's up with the two new beds in our dormroom?" Remus asked, making everyone stop dead in their tracks and turn to the trio's corner, who could not have asked for better timing.

"Uh…it's because of us," Harry said loudly stepping out from where they had crouched hidden, and into the light.

For a few seconds no one moved and the trio used this as encouragment to move on farther down to the middle of the room. But then, with the suddeness of water exploding through a dam; Peter gave a squeak and jumped under his bedcovers, Remus pulled up his pants with a soft cry, James fell back onto his bed, and Sirius just stood there with his jaw a good inch or two bellow where it had been.

"HOLLY SHIT!!!" said Sirius, after a second or two of moving his lips soundlessly, "whose your twin Prongs???

"My twin?" James now got up and watched Harry's face, squinting his eyes.

Both James and Sirius made their way towards the trio and briefly stared at the other two before turning to Harry and back to eachother to exchange astonished looks. They kept blinking as though wondering if they were imagining things and moved their mouths soundlessly at the other. Finally identical grins were formed on their faces and after touching him to make sure he was solid, sound was ignited from their moving lips.

"You know what this means," James said with a wild glint in his hazel eyes.

"Your parents have been keeping you away from your twin because...he is evil?" Sirius' voice sounded rather dreamy.

"And now he has come to kill me and take my place!"

"Not before turning your life into hell though. He wants revenge for his suffering." 

"Yeah...humiliate and torture me. Heh he, this could all be for the best. Lily is a girl, she is bound to fall for the whole victim thing. Come to my aid with hugs and kisses..."

"I wouldn't hold my breath mate."

"Um…" Hermione looked a little unnerved at watching two 16 years olds acting like 6 years olds…never the less one of them being the guy she knew as Harry's godfather.

"Well at least now we know neither of you grew up over the summer," said Remus with a small grin. He proceeded to make his way towards the trio and looked as though he was about to shake hands with them, "don't mind them. They're not as big of a freaks as they seem. They're just a little excited, that's all."

"It's alright," said Ron who looked very excited, obviously thinking highly of the Marauders however nutty they were.

"Great…so now who are you?" Remus asked still looking politely bewildered.

"We're…well we're from Beaubatons," Harry said turning pink a little, when he saw that his answer was not satisfactory, as the three marauders were still looking at him with raised brows (Peter watched on from his bed).

"Beaubatons? But you're not French-"

"You don't have to be anything to go overboard Prongsie. My cousin Bella begged her parents to let her go to Durmstrange and she could have you know. Just a matter of choice really."

"I guess you could transfer too then," James nodded at the trio, but Sirius shook his head.

"Not normally. There has to be a very good reason for both headmasters to allow such a drastic change in a student's education," he now turned to Harry, "was there?"

Hermione answered before Harry had even opened his mouth, "we assume so but our parents, Madam Maxim, and Dumbledore have refused to discuss it with us," Hermione said, and this time something strange happened, a dark look seemed to pass Sirius, James and Remus' faces. They exchanged grim looks before either of them spoke.

"Let me guess," Sirius said coldly, "Voldemort has got it in for your families and they want to keep you all safe?"

"Yeah," Harry said almost truthfully, looking down. It happened so suddenly, the pain of losing Sirius passed through him; he wanted to threw up.

"Hey, sorry mate," Sirius said looking horrified at Harry, "I-I…forget it…so come on get on your beds, you all look exhausted!"

Harry and Ron made their way to their beds at the end of the room, Harry chose the one beside his dad. Hermione had muttered something about going off to look for the room with the sixth year girls and made her way to the door as Harry kicked off his shoes and socks. But no sooner had he got under his covers or Hermione wrapped her hand around the doorknob when the dormitory door burst open. Harry could see a silhouette of a girl stood at the doorway, and though he was too far to see her face he could very much feel the fury radiating off of her.

Harry watched as his dad grinned and got off his bed, and as Harry had expected James' right hand quickly moved to his hair, messing it up even more.

"Hey Evans, you wanna join us," Sirius motioned to his bed.

"You're a pig Black. I would have a nice choice of words for you, but I'll be too busy delivering them to the slimier git between you too." Lily now marched into their room and stopped in front of James Jabbing him in the chest with her pointed index finger. Sirius didn't retaliate and instead disappeared behind his curtain winking at James.

"What did I do?" James failed miserably in his attempt to look innocent.

"Don't even get me started, I came here to warn you if you pull another—" she stopped in her tracks as she noticed the trio and the two extra beds, "What is this? A sleepover?"

"If that's what you wanna call it," James said, and Harry realized that she hadn't noticed his face too clearly in the dark.

"Anyways, Potter, You try to act all smart and cool on me one more time, you're dead!!! I may be a girl but I can play dirty-" Lily caught on to how her words could be interpreted and stopped in her tracks, glaring at a smirking James for good measures, "Just leave me alone Pothead."

"Anything you say Evans," James said, "you know you can stop all this if only you agree to go out with me!"

"Right, like that'll ever happen." Lily turned back and made her way to the door, pausing only at the sight of Hermione, "I'm guessing the extra bed in my dorm is for you."

"Um," Hermione looked a bit off guard to hear such a pleasant soft voice from Lily after the cold one she'd been using a second ago, but nodded gratefully and turned to leave with her.

About five minutes later Harry was trying his hardest to sleep with all the emotions and junk in his brain when he heard James' voice as he told Sirius off for forgetting the Silencing Charm AGAIN!


	2. Understanding n Cool

Disclaimer: If I owned any kinda book…it'll probably be…THAT SEXAY THING SIRIUS BLACK'S SAD BUT REBELLIOUS STORY!!!! But no I don't own HP!  
  
Harry woke up thinking it was all a wonderful dream; he was still back at the Dursleys. Though he realized his pillow was totally dry for once, and slowly almost dreadfully he opened his eyes, to realize he 'd woken up to VERY loud snoring. Taking as long as he could he searched for his glasses and sighed in relief realizing at least he was at Hogwarts, and swung his legs off of the bed. Suddenly he heard a yelp, followed by a groan, and Harry looked down to see the sleepy outline of his father tangled in his sheet, curled up on the floor beside their beds.  
  
For a while Harry sat still on his bed watching his father sleep, very occasionally turning and rolling and muttering out stuff like "Watch for the bludger Padfoot!!!". He smiled as he felt this warm feeling spread through him, realizing now that it was not a dream…he was going to spend a WHOLE year with his parents and their friends.  
  
"You gonna sit there the whole day?" came Ron's voice from behind Harry.  
  
"I uh just got up," Harry said turning around to find Ron dressed, slightly red.  
  
"Well better hurry up," Ron said as Harry, very unwilling, got off his bed, "or we'll be late."  
  
Last thing Harry wanted to do was leave the Marauders, but he'd promised Dombledore to put his learning before anything, and he doubted very much he'd be pleased to know that Harry was late his very first day here, seeing as the Marauders were no where near getting up.   
  
"You think we should wake them up?" Harry asked, looking nervously as his father still deep sleep, kick a book close to his feet so hard it hit the opposite wall.  
  
"Uh, I think that's Lupin's job," Ron said looking at a slowly stirring Remus, looking a little relieved.  
  
Harry and Ron made their way out of the common room, Harry wishing he was still with the Marauders, but wondering if Dombledore would get angry and take him back if he wasn't working his hardest. He and Ron couldn't stop themselves from exchanged constant grins; after all they were rooming with the legendary Marauders.  
  
They made their way to the Great Hall, when Harry saw her again his mother sitting at the table with a bunch of friends, and as Ron walked over to Hermione, he made his was towards her unconsciously. He had only realized what he'd done when he was the wide-eyed looks the girls who were sitting around her gave him, as they passed by.  
  
"Wow! James the green eyes really works for you," said a pretty brunet girl and all the others agreed sending him flirtatious smiles.  
  
"What's up with the scar," asked another girl looking concerned, "what happened?"  
  
"Was it Quidditch practice?" Ask another one touching his arm lightly.  
  
"Uh no," Harry said not aware of any of them, as he saw his mother turning to frown at the girls without looking at him, but this didn't stop him from reaching her "Lily."  
  
At first it seemed like Lily was gonna ignore that but as though something had suddenly hit her, she stiffened up like a board and slowly turned, looking Harry straight in the eyes. He watched in fascination as her beautiful face study his, and her eyes suddenly fill up with understanding.  
  
"You're not James," Lily said her face warming up a bit.  
  
"No, My name is Harry Potter," Harry said as he couldn't help but to smile at her.  
  
"Are you bro—"  
  
"No," Harry said quickly, "distant cousins I think!"  
  
"Wow," she said looking him up and down, "it's incredible how much you look like him…I'd have thought you were twins or something…cept his nose is a little different—" Lily stopped suddenly turning red, and Harry realized why in time to make himself look politely puzzled.  
  
"I heard these things happen sometimes," Harry said shrugging.  
  
"Right, well I hope it's just your looks," Lily said looking a little cold, "last thing this school needs is another self-centered bigheaded bully like James Potter."  
  
Thinking back to what seemed like another lifetime, Harry thought of what he had seen in Snape's pensive, and quickly shook his head looking a bit horrified, this seemed to make Lily laugh though, not a cold laugh he had expected for some reason, but a warm one as gentle as a summer breeze.   
  
"You can sit down if you want," she said beaming at him.  
  
"Thanks," Harry said relieved, and suddenly realized his mother was sitting here all alone with what looked like a muggle book and toast.   
  
He remembered wagely, his 4th year, when he was frustrated over how girls never seemed to be alone, always walking around with packs, and suddenly his face broke into a smile as he remembered how she'd single handedly stood up to his father. Gratefully he sat down, wondering for the first time why he had fallen for Cho who couldn't even make DA without her friends.   
  
"So…it doesn't sound like you like my roommates too much," Harry said not able to hold back a grin, knowing that ironically she was gonna end up marring the one she hated the most.  
  
"Hmmm...well Remus is pretty nice, though he should be more responsible as a Prefect, and Sirius IS kinda funny…" she said looking down.  
  
"What about James," Harry asked, a little surprised at himself, though Lily kept her eyes on her toast, turning red.   
  
"James Potter is a self-absorbed bigheaded bulling toerag, who deserves nothing less than getting a good spanking from Flitch!" Lily said trying to look serious though couldn't seem to stop a grin from spreading across her face.  
  
"Wow, you sure hate him," Harry said returning her grin.  
  
"Naw…I just wish he'd grow up, you know," she said looking deep into Harry's eyes, and he felt another stab of pain in his heart.  
  
"Where I…where I come from, we grow up too fast, learn to deal with things it takes others much longer to experience…sometimes the price is too high," for some reason Harry burst this all out, and instead of looking shocked or horrified, Lily nodded with understanding.  
  
For a second Harry felt his eyes sting, here he was sitting with his mother, and she was so…so friendly and understanding…he wagely mourned over how he lost the opportunity to be raised by her. Unbelievably though he felt so comfortable around her though they had just met, kind of like when he first met Sirius…  
  
"You're right! I'm being totally selfish…James is James and I can't change him, I shouldn't," she said, though Harry wondered if she was talking to herself.  
  
"No way! From what I've seen, you're anything but selfish! If James Potter really wants you, then he should learn to mature up to deserve someone so cool," Harry thoughts wandered back to the pensive once again.  
  
"Thanks," she blushed a little, and then turned to stand up smiling at him, "listen I'll probably be up to my neck with homework tonight, but…do you wanna hang around the lake for breakfast?"  
  
"Sure," Harry said a little too quickly, watching Lily walk away so intently that he didn't even notice Hermione staring at him.  
  
"Harry!" she said looking at him sternly, "why did you just agree to that???"  
  
"What?" Harry asked looking confused.  
  
"You know that she is falling for you, right?"   
  
"HERMIONE!" Ron said looking sick, "that's his mom you're talking about!!!"  
  
"Yeah, but she doesn't know that," she said looking annoyed, "honestly Ron—"  
  
"Listen, all she wants to do is talk about James with me, she is obviously head over hills with him—"  
  
"Yeah? And have you looked in the mirror Harry lately? You look almost exactly like him and everyone says your so much like him, cept now in this time your more mature…EXACTLY what Lily is looking for!!!"  
  
"Since when do you know what my mom is looking for," Harry could feel his temper rising, and Hermione seemed to realize this since her voice sounded a little cautions now.   
  
"Harry, if she falls in love with you…you might never be born!"  
  
"Ok listen Hermione, Dombledore would've seen this happening, and he didn't warn me to stay away from her, now did he?" Harry said starting to get up.  
  
"But—" Hermione bit her lip looking worried.  
  
"Don't tell me YOU wanna be late for class the first day," Ron said nervously trying to change the subject.  
  
"Of course not," Hermione snapped Handing Harry and Ron the timetables she got for them.  
  
"Urgh," Ron said looking down at it, "double potions…with SLYTHERINS!  
  
"Hey…maybe it won't be so bad now…since Snape isn't the teacher," Harry said.  
  
"But he'll still be in the class," Hermione said as they watched Snape and a few other Slytherin boys a head of them heading towards the dungeons.  
  
  
  
A/N: ok crappy place to stop…but I'll update with EXACTLY where I took off soon! I hope you liked the whole Lily and Harry chilling…I think they would have made the cutest mom and son *tear*! Sorry I didn't really include the Marauders in this chapter but I promise you all they'll be there for sure in the next one and be WAY more included in the story! PLEASE REVIEW and tell me who'd you'd most likely wanna see pared up!!!! 


	3. Blood n Family

Disclaimer: ya da ya da blah blah I don't OWN HP!!!  
  
A/N: Ok this chapter is a little longer…and more intense…you'll see what I mean…^_^...but be prepared for sad stuff! (tear) (sob) (tear)   
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione had arrived just as the potions master, a dark haired man, was letting everyone in, and quickly grabbed seats in the back not to attract attention. However it didn't seem possible, as the second they had sat in this class not only the Slytherins, but also the Gryffindors were staring at them.   
  
  
  
"Class we have 3 exchange students, that will be joining us for this year. Be polite as they are from a different school and are sure to tell their parents how they were treated while their stay here," the professor said in a silky voice.  
  
Harry would have been embarrassed, but he couldn't help but stare at the man with his jaw dropped…it was a younger version of Igor Karkroff!!! He turned to see Ron and Hermione's awed faces as well, as they looked at him.  
  
"Why the hell does that kid look exactly like Potter than?" a tall Slytherin boy called out.  
  
"Because he is a relative of Potters, Rosier…ah he is Harry Potter," Karkroff said looking at the attendance sheet, "and Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley."  
  
Harry could see that Ron was surprised that no one made a comment about him being a Weasley, it seemed they had finally come to a time that he was the only Weasley. Harry couldn't help but smile at the wide grin that played on his friends face.  
  
"Oh great, like one arrogant little Potter wasn't enough," this time the Slytherin boy was built like Goyle, though he looked very different.  
  
"Oh look this one has a scar, he probably expects people to think it cool!" Snape sneered.  
  
"Right, I bet he got from falling on his face in the shower!" said the tall boy laughing now, a very cold laugh Harry noticed.  
  
"And is that supposed to be funny?" Lily suddenly spoke up, "cause it's not—"   
  
"Five points from Gryffindor for speaking out loud Ms. Evans," Karkroff said coldly, and Harry noticed that his mother did not argue, though she did send a glare across the room towards the Slytherin boys, "Now everybody copy this down and get to work!"  
  
Harry stared at the very complicated seductive potion they were to make, and tried his best to concentrate hard. On the bright side, he thought, at least Karkroff doesn't have a personal grudge against me.   
  
For a while the whole class seemed to be working quietly, after all 6th year potions was indeed looking VERY complicated, when suddenly the whole room seemed to have shook very slightly, so much that no one was sure if it had happened or it was a figment of their imagination. Though a few seconds later the room began to shake, and this time is was so hard, the pupils fell forwards and back, and it did not stop. Oh no, the shaking got worst, so bad that everyone's cauldron was emptied, and almost everyone was laying on the ground.  
  
Though no one knew what had happened, they all cautiously began to stand and those who were sporting burns from undone hot potions were being rounded up around Karkroff's desk, who irritably was fixing them up with a 'Fast Heal for Burns' potion. Before all of the victims were taken care of the classroom door burst open, and in came Sirius and James, closely followed by Remus and Peter who looked like a little odd standing next to such tall boys, when he was so short himself.   
  
Karkroff looking livid pushed passed the students and made his way towards the Marauders. Though being only 16 both James and Sirius matched Karkroff's height, and Karkroff standing there, yelling at them seemed if anything a bit humorous.  
  
"So…you thought you had a little fun with my class, did you?" Karkroff yelled looking dangerously at the boys, though none of them so much as blinked.  
  
"What are you talking about Professor?" Sirius said so casually that Harry couldn't help but gape at him.  
  
"You know very well what I'm talking about Black! Don't you dare act stupid…now what spell did you use to give my class an earthquake???" the boys however looked at him blankly, and Harry was sure if he hadn't known they were some of the best pranksters ever, he would believe they had no idea what had happened.  
  
"An Earthquake??? Sir I hate to ask…but why are you accusing us for a force of nature?" James asked politely.   
  
  
  
For a while Karkroff glared at the boys, however he seemed to realize there was no way to get a confession out of them, and curtly turned away sneering.  
  
"Well, get to your seats then! Oh and before I forget, shall we take 10 points off Gryffindor, for each of you? Aahh yes, perhaps this'll help teach you not to be late for my class, after all I don't even remember the last time Gryffindor won the house cup!"  
  
"Stupid git," Harry heard Sirius mutter, as him and the other Marauders took the only two tables left, to Harry's right, though right behind the nasty Slytherin boys.  
  
Harry could hear rude comments send towards the Marauders by the Slytherins, however to his amazement they all went unnoticed by the 4 boys, who were now in deep concentration on their potions. For a second Harry wondered if the little quake was a way to get the whole class to start over so they wouldn't fall behind, but shrugging he went to tend his own potion, thinking back to his promise to Dombledore.  
  
***  
  
Finally the bell rang in time for lunch, meaning the end of transfiguration, and for the first time Hermione walked out, not looking so pleased of herself. Ron and Harry, laughing their heads off couldn't help but to remind her that here she was no longer the top of everything, she now had some major competition. Today, for the first time, Hermione wasn't the first to get the task McGonagall had in store for them. James got it before anyone else closely followed by Sirius, a fuming Lily and then Hermione got it, though after Remus as well.   
  
"How could they get it before me," Hermione said grimly, jerking her head back towards the Marauders.  
  
"My point exactly," a soft voice said right behind them, and a flushed looking Hermione turned around to find Lily beaming at her, "I mean they don't even study for tests or anything, but they always end up with good grades!"  
  
"That's so unfair," Hermione said weakly.  
  
"I know makes us look bad," Lily said smiling, "you know Hermione we didn't really get much of a chance to talk last night, but your pretty cool."  
  
"Thanks," Hermione looked a little thrown back but pleased at the same time.  
  
"Listen I found the coolest book in the library about these ancient spells and stuff…and if your interested…" Lily began, "do you want to come check it out with me?"  
  
"Sure," Hermione said now smiling widely, "See you guys."  
  
"Bye, and I'll see you later," Lily grinned at Harry before the two girls began making their way to the library.   
  
"Well at least this time her library buddy has some brains," Ron said lightly, and Harry was sure he was thinking back to the Krum episode.   
  
Harry wasn't sure what to say, and was spared to answer as something very heavy fell on top of him, making him crash to the floor. For a second Harry wondered if one of the Slytherins had attacked him, but turned around to in time to see Sirius' grinning face inches from his.  
  
"Sorry mate," Sirius said getting up now, "I didn't know how to stop you."  
  
"You could've called out," Harry said weakly, "that's what normal people do," and to his surprise he heard the other boys snore.  
  
"Sirius would never do anything considered as normal," James said shaking his head grinning, "I thought Dombledore would've warned you lot before rooming you with US!"  
  
"Guess he forgot," Ron said grinning.  
  
"Oh boy," Remus said his light blue eyes wide, "he probably didn't want to scare you off!"  
  
"Haha, very funny," Sirius said sarcastically holding out a hand to Harry and helping him up, "Their just kidding with you guys, we're not so bad…well maybe we are…but not to each other, only to other people!"  
  
"Yup, that's true. You guys gotta feel lucky to be our roommates…because now you're welcome to join our troublemaking club!" Remus said grinning at them.  
  
"That's right, we Marauders have come to realize that it's pointless not to include you in our plots since your gonna room with us and that's our headquarters for crime…and Dombledore wouldn't put insufferable gits in our room, since he knows they'd be tortured, by us the great Marauders!!! Anyway before we let you in you must do something to prove yourselves!" James explained.  
  
"What?" Ron asked looking a bit nervous.  
  
"Well I'm sure the Slytherins were giving you guys a hard time as well…so why don't you get a little pay back?" Sirius said grinning evilly.  
  
"We'll give you till dinner time to think up a good prank and play it on them," James said putting his arms around Harry and Ron, and began walking, "then we'll see if your mind works to cause wreckage and revenge!"  
  
"Where are we going?" Ron asked looking confused.  
  
"Well…we wont let you do everything empty handed…I mean how fair is that, this being your first day in this school and all," James grinned at them, "the Marauders are gonna help you, its our prank all of us, 'cept you two are in charge…we'll do what ever you tell us…plus we give you props."  
  
"What?" Harry and Ron said at the same time, as James walked away from them towards a very tiny portrait on the wall, and whispered something to it, "Well boys, tell me what you think!"  
  
  
  
Exchanging surprised looks Harry and Ron made their way towards James, to see that the wall had slit open…to show a rather large room…full of EVERYTHING!!! Incredibly enough there was shelves and shelves of potions, boxes full of dung bombs, fireworks, so many different kinds of explosives, stacks of heavy peculiar looking books, jars of odd looking plants, odd looking stuff in packages, and of course food! There was a whole section of the room dedicated to shelves of sweets and more chocolate than Harry had ever seen (other than Honeydukes though off course!), huge buckets of ice full of Butter beer, and large boxes of fire whiskies and all kinds of alcoholic beverages.   
  
"I believe I'm right to say you will find anything you need in here," James said casually, as the other boys arrived behind them, "we'll meet here before dinner to get everything you need in time for the prank, how does that sound?"  
  
"No," Harry said suddenly making Ron stare at him, "I know exactly what we should do to the Slytherins!"  
  
"Oooh, well you do think fast," James said smirking, "well then take what you need, and tell us all the wonderful details."  
  
"We're definitely gonna need your help," Harry said, "I thought we'd do something to their food…you know?"  
  
"Right," Ron said catching on, "how bout we make it alive???"  
  
"Hahaha," Sirius laughed, "we tried that once before where their food started attacking them…man that was the best! You had to see the lobster clinging on to Snape's nose…I've never laughed so hard!!!"  
  
"Heh, well actually…I was thinking less violent…how bout we put a hex on their plates that…that would dissolve the food the second it hit it?" Harry said suddenly thinking back to Mr. Weasleys injury a year ago, with the disappearing stitches.  
  
"Nice," Sirius said looking impressed, "even I never though of that, and I fall sleep every night thinking up pranks!"  
  
"Wow! Gotta hand it to ya, it sounds wonderful!!!" James said patting Harry on the back, who couldn't help but smile, till he saw the look on Ron's face, "uh actually it was Ron, who gave me the idea! He played this cool prank on this Malfoy kid—"   
  
"Malfoy kid?" Sirius asked looking confused.  
  
"Uh…" Harry felt his face burn, "ya…anyway—"  
  
"There are no Malfoy kids, I mean there is Lucius the stupid 30 years old asshole who married my cousin 3 years ago, and from what I heard they're the only two Malfoy's left since his father died last summer…what Malfoy kid?"  
  
"Uh…," Harry didn't know what to say, all he could think about was kicking himself for being so stupid…why the hell did he have to mention Draco?  
  
"There is actually a muggle family in France called Malfoy," Ron suddenly said, and Harry stared at him, "are your family Malfoy's French as well?"  
  
"I wouldn't know," Sirius said coldly, but then a smile split across his face, "sorry for a second I forgot I ran away from home last summer…"  
  
"You did?" Ron looked surprised.  
  
"Yeah, I woke up one day and realize embarrassing my family in front of guests wasn't funny anymore, and I was running out of pranks to play on little brother and mom…so I got up hexed them and jumped on my flying motorbike, and flew to James' house and stayed there for the whole summer," Sirius said grinning, "uh maybe we should get back to our prank."  
  
"Ya—" Harry began, but Ron cut him off.  
  
"Since Harry thought of it then I should do the actual jinxing!" Ron said eagerly looking at James and Sirius.  
  
"Cool," James said, turning to Sirius, "ok me and Sirius'll come with you to get you to the kitchens and keep the house elves busy, Peter will stand guard before the kitchen, and since Remus is a master at finding jinxes and curses, he and Harry will look up the dissolving jinx for you. How bout that?"  
  
"NO WAY!" Remus crossed his arms and glared at James, "I'm not sitting back and letting you guys have all the fun!!!"  
  
"Fine," James said sighing, "our old system then?"   
  
"Looks like it," Sirius said grinning, and the 4 boys gathered around a circle, "Aaaaaw man! I always hated this game…why did I have to pick rock???"  
  
"Well good luck looking for that jinx Padfoot," James laughed, "I really love this game! Come on Ron…let the losers do their job!"  
  
Sirius stuck his tongue at them, but when he turned to Harry he was grinning, "well we might as well get to work mate."  
  
He and Harry made their way in the large room and after Sirius tapped the wall with his wand it closed up, making everything dark but within seconds light was back, and Harry looked up to realize there was a small candle chandelier on top of their heads.  
  
"Well we might make the most of it," Sirius said taking out to bottles of normal muggle beer, and handed Harry one, "help your self to anything you want!"  
  
"Uh thanx," Harry said as the two of them went to raided the sweets, and filled their robes before finding sitting down close to all the heavy books, picking up the closest one ('Best Pranks Known to Wizards in Complicated Steps!') and scanning pages as quickly as he could.  
  
After 10 minutes Sirius let out a cheer, and jumped to his feet, motioning for Harry to do as well. Obviously he was very good at look up stuff. Quickly Harry made his way towards him, half nervous about being alone with his young to-be-godfather.  
  
"Ok here's the thing, for the spell to work we need to mix together a few things, pretty simple stuff though…and we've got everything here…except for a bit of an Erumpent's hide…and the serpent dissolving venom," Sirius said frowning at the book but he looked up grinning at Harry, "but never fear young Harry, we can get all this from Karkroff's office!"  
  
"Are you sure," Harry couldn't imagine why anyone would keep snake venom in their office…however Karkroff was a dark wizard…  
  
"And I believe he is enjoying a lovely meal in the Great Hall about now!" Sirius said looking down on an old piece of perchment, Harry was sure it was the Marauder's map, "ok follow me!"  
  
Harry soon realized Karkroff's office was much like Snape's, though missing a few gruesome things, but with addition of a few more gruesome things. Harry had held his breath as Sirius mutter something causing a silver like light shatter through something that had suddenly became visible, a lot like a colorless-goldish egg shell.  
  
Now the two boys furiously looked around for the only item left, the snake venom…and not too long Sirius found that as well letting out a whoop…however only seconds later they heard the sound of footsteps, Sirius through something over Harry's head, who looked up to realize it was the invisibility cloak.  
  
Half huddled together the boys listened as they heard Karkroff's angry growl, and realized there were to sets of footsteps. For a while Karkroff cursed the Marauders, but they heard someone else sigh impatiently, and he stopped. The two men walked into his office looking very serious, something about the second man was familiar to Harry though he did not recognize him, and somehow he knew the man was up to no good…maybe it was his cold inhuman pale blue eyes.  
  
"Igor, will you stop wasting my time? I have many things to do and need you to answer to me…" the unknown man's said coldly.  
  
"I do not know yet, but I must admit, it is very tempting however," Karkroff laughed.  
  
"Of course it's tempting, the Dark Lord has powers most can only dream of…he will be most pleased with you, if you were to join. A teacher at Dombledore's school is like more precious than any amount of jewelry to my master!" Harry watched the man's face break into a horrible smile, "Join us Karkroff and you will watch as your wildest dreams come true, the Dark Lord himself will teach you things…incredible things…and give you gifts beyond you're most wonderful dreams!"  
  
"I must tell you Sebastian, you have me convinced…however tell him I will need 3 days, I ask, to think it over," Karkroff smirked.  
  
"Do not forget what the Dark Lord has done for you Igor, he could much much more than that," Sebastian said though he now turned to leave, "good day," and with that he left, shortly followed by Karkroff himself who picked up a few folders full of parchments before his own departure.  
  
Harry and Sirius did not speak, nor take off the invisibility cloak, until they were inside the 'props' room again. Where Sirius sank down on the floor and opened another beer bottle and gulped down half the bottle. Harry slowly sat down in front of him looking a little white, though in a way he did not understand Sirius' expression. His godfather's expression was hard to read, his face had gone very pale, and his eyes were cold though they stared straight ahead not blinking much.  
  
"That was close," Harry said not knowing what else to say, and picked up a bottle himself.  
  
"It's not a good idea," Sirius said suddenly, the cold look had gone now, "we haven't had anything to eat, the last thing we need is to get drunk."  
  
"Ya, you're right," Harry put the bottle down, and sighing he looked up at Sirius, "the other man was a death eater wasn't he?"  
  
"What," Sirius breathed looking shocked, and for a while stared into Harry's eyes…who felt as though his eyes were burning, remembering the last time he had looked into Sirius' eyes like that right before he died. Something changed in Sirius' eyes, they no longer fun loving the way they always were, or cold, it seemed as though he could see the pain Harry was feeling, and it brought out his own, "you've suffered in his hands…haven't you"  
  
"He killed my parents," Harry said looking down, his eyes now very blurry, "a friend of mine, and because of him the person I love the most is gone," Harry still couldn't say dead when he was referring to Sirius…the word was just to horrible…than his tears suddenly stopped. Harry couldn't believe it, he had never ever told someone how much Voldemort has hurt him…never said he loved Sirius…  
  
"He never stops, does he?" Sirius said, his eyes too were full of tears, "none of them do…they think it's fun, like they're playing some kind of sick sport or something…"  
  
Now whipping his tears Harry looked up as Sirius, who looked as though he was talking to himself more than anyone, "I remember my family having him over for dinner, a few years ago…if only I had reached across the table and…so many innocent people dead…" he shuddered visibly, "my whole family was their, all my cousins, ants uncles…they looked at him like he was some sort of Hero wanting to get rid of some kind of virus or, or something…he would talk about it like he'd create this amazing muggle and mudblood free world, and everyone would smirk and clap for him."  
  
"I was so young, only 13, if I'd known…he looked over at me with those horrible red eyes of his…and gave me this amber amulet. He told me that any food I wanted, anything at all, even the finest of fire whiskies would appear for me in an instant if I just wished in to it. I got excited, I didn't know what kind of monster he was, and took it thanking him…my parents looked at me, beaming for the first time ever…after all the times I played pranks on our gusts embarrassing them in the past, for once they were proud of me! For the first time, I listened as they told him how clever I was, and how 'the Potter boy' and me were the 2 top students in our grades at Hogwarts. They even told him of all the complicated original pranks I had played on others, the ones I was sure no one other than the Marauders would appreciate…gosh how could I have been so foolish?"  
  
Harry hadn't spoken while Sirius spilled his heart out and for the first time now watching tears stream down his godfather's face he quietly spoke, "you didn't know…he hadn't shown his true colors yet!"  
  
"No…but still," Sirius wiped his eyes with his sleeve and suddenly looked at Harry, but quickly turned away, "tell me then."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Come on! It's ok I understand that you hate me now, so do I," Sirius said, pulling his knees closer to himself looking much younger that he was, "if it weren't for people like my family, Voldemort would've never gained enough power to…"  
  
"BUT NOT YOU!!! You're family is VERY different from you Sirius!!!" Harry couldn't help himself but yell.  
  
"THE SAME BLOOD RUNS THROUGH MY VEINS! NO MATTER HOW FAR I RUN…" Sirius' voice suddenly broke down, giving Harry the chance he needed.  
  
"SO WHAT? HUH??? My mother was a wonderful woman…she-she gave her life for me and fought Voldemort, but Sirius she has a sister who is, just terrible!!! Their sisters, they have the same flesh and blood, they grew up in the same house…but my mother would never be able to watch anyone in pain, and her sister would turn the other way!!!!" Harry said, "it's not what we're born with that make us, us, it's our choices Sirius. You're in Gryffindor and isn't that already a sign that you do not wish to be power hungry?"  
  
"But Harry you don't understand, growing with people like that…"  
  
"BUT I DO! Remember how I told you Voldemort killed my parents…well he did that when I was only a baby, so I grew up all my life with my mother's sister, and her family who despise me for what I am," Harry said as he felt a shiver run down his spine.  
  
"Isn't so unfair," Sirius said suddenly, "the way they sneer at you as though you carry something contagious?"  
  
"Yeah," Harry smiled sadly, "it makes you wanna go crazy and stick their heads in the salad bowl!"   
  
"I know," Sirius laughed his bark like laugh, and grabbed for a box of chocolate frogs, "'cept after a while you get used to it…it's just another annoying thing that'll always be their…like brushing your teeth!"  
  
"Good one," Harry grinned biting into a chocolate frog, "it's weird isn't it…we just met and already…we understand each other better than anyone!"  
  
"Jamesie is my brother…but well he grew up in this really amazing family…and…I can't talk about how horrible my family is to him…I'm afraid! I know he wouldn't, I mean the Potters and the Rest of the magic world know what a horrible dark family the Black's are some think we're even worst than the Malfoys…but I never told him about Voldemort having once been our dinner guest…never about who gave me the amulet! I will never tell him what happened the night I ran away…I just can't…"  
  
For a while neither boy talked as they munched down chocolate and other sweets, until Harry just had to ask, "what happened back in Karkroff's office…why were you so pale?"  
  
"Sebastian Travers, he is a very good friend of my dad's and now he is asking one of OUR teachers to join Voldemort! If we expose him I'd be exposing my own father as well…even though it's there is no question about turning him in…it's still weird, I feel like I'm betraying someone," Sirius' cheeks suddenly flushed.  
  
"It's ok to feel that way Sirius," Harry said suddenly, "but lets just go see Dombledore, he wont do anything unless you give him permission to!"   
  
"How do you know," Sirius said with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"My uh…parents were very close to Dombledore, he sometimes visited me!"  
  
"Oh I see…you're right, Dombledore seems like the answer right now!!!" and with that the two of them got up totally forgetting about their little prank.  
  
A/N: Ever since reading the 5th book I just couldn't help but see how much Harry and Sirius were alike…(SOB) they'd have connected real well don't you think??? Aaaaaaahhhh still thinking bout Sirius death makes me cry…how could JK do that to Harry???? 


	4. Bow to the Queen

Disclaimer: blah blah yada yada I don't own Harry Potter.  
  
A/N: Thanks for all the GREAT reviews!!!! WOW it's good to know I'm not the only one totally pissed at JK for killing our sexy Sirius…hee hee Back to the Future did make sense though…and ya to answer you're question Blue-oyster-cult, the tall boy with the cold voice was Evan Rosier.  
  
"Well well, there is the bushy head know-it-all," came a nasty voice, and Hermione decided to ignore it, and it seemed like Lily did as well.  
  
"Gosh Evans you have bad taste in friends…oh wait, sorry I forgot, you're a Know-it-all Mudblood too!" said an even nastier voice.  
  
"Watch it Marcia, I'm a prefect!" Lily said without looking up, and continued reading.  
  
"So what Evans? I'm a prefect too," said a new if possible NASTIER than the first two, and rather familiar voice, and this time Lily looked up, and Hermione decided she might as well.  
  
There stood three girls, two were rather ugly with long faces and hardly any eyelashes, round eyes, and limp thin hair. Then there was the 3rd girl who was nothing short of gorgeous, with long thick black hair, large wild shaped dark eyes, sharp cheekbones, and the longest eyelashes Hermione had ever seen. However somewhere between the heavy dark makeup and the ugly grimace on the girl's face, the beauty could have easily been over looked, by fear…if anything she reminded Hermione of the street punks her parents used to warn her about.  
  
"Bellatrix Black…don't you have friends your own age?" Lily asked cocking up an eyebrow.  
  
For a second the two girls stood their glaring at each other, and Hermione just stared at the other girl in surprise, and with a pang something hit her…she must be a cousin of Sirius' Hermione thought, looking her up and down, well she sure got the family good looks as well. With another pang of understanding Hermione realized another thing as well…her voice so familiar…she was one of the death eaters they'd fought with in the Ministry of Mysteries!   
  
  
  
"You got a pretty big mouth for a mudblood Evans," Bellatrix sneered now her face too close for comfort to Lily's, "you better watch your back…we Slytherins don't allow shit, know what I mean?"  
  
"Oh Black don't tell me that's supposed to scare me…ooooh the Slytherin ghouls are after me…woopdidoo! Tell someone who cares!!!" Now Lily turned back to her book, as though Bellatrix face wasn't inches from hers.   
  
"But you should be Evans…because when we're done with you, your worthless muggle mommy is gonna lose it…oh wait…you're now gonna run to your little stalker Potter aren't you? Cry for him to help you fight the big bad Slytherins," she laughed a high cold laugh, "what I don't get is why you keep trying to deny the losers love…don't wanna get caught for you're love potion…or is he just as big a loser as you???"  
  
"FUCK OFF BLACK!!! Or should I remind you of all the times James and your dear cousin played you and your stupid Slytherin buddies??? Or maybe I should remind you of the time they beat you, and all the OLDER Slytherins in the dueling competition????? Hmmm…well if you call HIM a loser, than your…" Lily laughed and hers was even colder.  
  
"Oh so you're sticking up for lover boy now, aaaaww how sweet…NOT," Bellatrix now looked really irritated, "my dear cousin and your boy toy are nothing but silly little boys, they won't be able to defend you against me!!!"  
  
"If it's a fight you want Black, than bring it on!!! Friday night, 1 am, Quidditch pitch…and we bring everyone we know!" Lily said now standing up bringing her face even closer to Bellatrix's.  
  
"You wanna die Evans, than be my guest! You're on…and don't you DARE chicken out…or you'll be VERY sorry!!!"  
  
"Oh trust me Black…I've been waiting for this for a long time…I will be there, and you can bet every other Gryffindor will be there as well!!!!"  
  
Hermione watched the two girls in aw, as they stood there for a few seconds, not blinking and glaring at each other and slowly, turned away. When Bellatrix and her two sneering friends were gone, Lily turned to Hermione smiling, her emerald eyes sparkling, and her face flushed with excitement.  
  
"Finally that girl is gonna get a taste of what Gryffindors will do if you get them mad enough!!! Ooooh this is gonna be so great…we must go and tell everyone about it, I'm sure she will…but Gryffindors are smarter, and WAY braver," Lily rambled on now fixing her makeup.  
  
"But you're a prefect," Hermione said suddenly, feeling as though Lily had let her down.  
  
For a while Hermione had thought that finally she found another girl exactly like her, the two of them seemed to really hit it off, since they had so much in common. It was like finally finding a really close girlfriend, someone she thought she could share stuff with…like maybe even the way she felt about Ron…but now Lily had to ruin it all. She could've so easily avoided the whole situation, by simply ignoring the Slytherin girls…but she had actually STARTED A FIGHT!!!! Slytherins vs. Gryffindors was absolutely the worst kind of fight to start in Hogwarts!!!!  
  
"Hermione," Lily seemed to have realized that something was wrong, "listen, that girl has been waiting to have a little Slytherin vs. Gryffindor fight ever sense her younger cousin got into Gryffindor and kept embarrassing the Slytherins in the school. That little episode you just saw, was just a little thing to start up sparks till she could think of a way to beat us in a fight before she graduates this year."  
  
"That's no excuse to be the one that suggests it!" Hermione cried, ripping her eyes away from Lily's eyes.   
  
"You're right!" Hermione looked at her, "it was wrong, and as a school Prefect I should have enough sense not to ever do such a thing! But Hermione, I've had enough of the Slytherins…especially ever since Voldemort took over the Ministry!!! They strut around the place being absolutely terrible, way worst than before, to all muggle borns and Gryffindors…it's enough to make me sick…so forget sense…this is pay back, or rather putting those arrogant losers back in their place for putting other people in the Hospital Wing!"  
  
  
  
For a second Hermione just stared at Lily, whose eyes were burning with determination, so incredibly like Harry's…just before going off to fight something terrible. Realizing that there was no changing her mind, Hermione let her words sink in…and though she knew she would NEVER start nothing short of a war in Hogwarts, she knew for 1 thing it was unavoidable, and almost as though feeling Lily anger and passion she could almost understand it all. Weird, Hermione thought, I've grown so much and I'm only 16.  
  
  
  
"I…I understand," Hermione not believing her own ears, as Lily beamed at her.  
  
"Alright I've got work to do, I have to tell all the Gryffindors about this!" Lily quickly stood up and started gathering things, but when she began to walk away, Hermione called her.  
  
"Lily," she said now getting up herself, "count me in!"  
  
"'Moine," Lily said a large smile on her face, "would you like to help me?"  
  
"Love to!"  
  
  
  
***  
  
Though what Sirius had gone through during lunch, he quickly managed to get back to his fun-loving self as he and Harry got back, and mixed the potion lighthearted and ready for major action. The two boys got back to History class together, and sat beside Ron and the rest of the Marauders smirking, not noticing that for the first time Lily and Hermione were paying absolutely no attention or taking notes, instead they were engaged in a deep excited conversation together.  
  
After class all except Harry and Sirius headed off to the kitchens, but didn't take to long to get back, their arms full of food. Spreading it all on Remus' bed, (since James and Peters were too messy, Harry's and Ron's were too new for crumbs, and Sirius' sheets were too stained with bodily fluids!), everyone started pigging out, except Harry who was sure all the candy he and Sirius had that afternoon, was not yet digested.   
  
For a while they gloated over their little prank, then the conversation turned to Quidditch, and James was absolutely ecstatic that Harry was a wonderful player, as Ron put it, making Harry turn red. When Harry said he too was a seeker, James looked as though he would do a cartwheel if he hadn't just eaten 30 pieces of cake, and told Harry he hadn't had real competition longer than he could remember. Harry too was excited when James said they should have a little challenge to decide who would be the seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, finally he would be able to see who was the better player him or his father!   
  
Not too long later the 6 boys were practically running towards the Great Hall, not wanting to miss a single moment of their prank in action. They got there just in time as the food appeared on each house table and VERY hungry students, after their first day of class, dug in filling up their plates.   
  
The six boys watched Rosier eagerly as he tried to fill up his plate, and froze as the food disappeared, he obviously thought he was imagining things, it was the 4th time he saw his food disappear before his jaw dropped. Same went for all the other Slytherins, most tried filling their plated quite a few times until it actually sunk in, and when it did they just stared at it for a while. What was even more hilarious was the look on their faces when they looked at the people beside them, and realize it was happening to everyone, and looked around frantically, only to realize all was normal for all other house tables.  
  
After a while though the Slytherins had huddled together and realized what must have been happening, and it wasn't really hard to figure out, since only Sirius and James were practically falling off their chairs, laughing their heads off (Harry and Remus had enough sense to keep themselves from it at all costs, Peter was choking on his drink, and Ron had his fist in his mouth.)  
  
"That's weird," Sirius said taking a deep breath still holding his stomach.  
  
"What do you mean," Peter asked, whipping his mouth with his sleeve.  
  
"The Slytherins are getting up and leaving the Great Hall," Sirius watched them curiously.  
  
"So?" Ron shrugged.  
  
"Usually they'd tell on us and watch as McGonagall yelled at us and gave us a month worth of detention…why did they just leave?" he sounded a bit annoyed, though Harry wasn't sure if it was because of Ron and Peter or the Slytherins acting odd.  
  
"It's cause they don't want us to feel victorious, like what we did mattered or anything," said a rather familiar voice, though now it was rather cold.  
  
"And why would they suddenly care how we feel as long James and I get loads of detentions?" Sirius looked at Lily suspiciously.  
  
"Cause of what happed at lunch," Lily said, Harry looked at Hermione for answers, but she was staring at her shoes.  
  
"What?" James said, exchanging surprised looks with the other guys.  
  
"What did you do," Sirius said grinning at her.  
  
"Um…actually it was you're cousin, she was being…herself. So anyway, I got pissed, and told her to meet me and the rest of the Gryffindors Friday at the Quidditch pitch!" Lily said now grinning a bit herself.  
  
"You what?" Remus and Harry said at the same time looking horrified.   
  
"Niiice! Who knew, Lily Evans miss prefect would actually start a fight between two houses!!!" Sirius said smirking at her.  
  
"Wow! Evans, that's really cool," James said, after he finally managed to close his jaw.  
  
"WOW isn't enough," Sirius got off his chair and bowed to Lily, "Queen Lily, you have now shown us you're GREATNESS…I beg you, to tell us…what shall we do for the war to come?" he took her hand and kissed it mockingly.  
  
"Ha ha, very funny Black…but really you should really listen to my plans…it will help gather people for the fight!" Lily said pulling her hand away and whipping it on her robes glaring at Sirius and for some reason at James too.  
  
"W-what? You mean we-we're going to fight ALL the Slytherins???" Peter looked horrified, and Harry couldn't help but feel a little bit of satisfaction at his pain, knowing very well that he was not evil yet.  
  
"Well whoever shows up, anyway" Hermione said for the first time, now looking up.  
  
"WOAH! YOU'RE in this too??? You're not gonna stop her…fight after school hours?" said Ron goggling at her.  
  
"In case you haven't noticed, RON, I've never left my friends alone when they needed my help!" Hermione said her face flushed with anger.  
  
"I didn't mean—" Ron began but was cut off by Sirius.  
  
"VERY nice, two sexy Gryffindor rebels?" Sirius smirked.  
  
"Jee thanks Sirius, I'm gonna start blushing now!" Lily said sarcastically.  
  
"Actually I was talking about me and James!" Sirius said, then rubbed his arm after a punch from James, "man, Jamsie how long do you expect me to live like this? Huh? With you always in denial of our relationship!" and he got punched again.   
  
"Hey I got an idea," Ron said suddenly, making everyone including James, who stopped glaring at Sirius, to stare at him, "since the Slytherins don't want to admit our pranks bother them, and won't tell on us…well we should do like a big prank on them everyday till Friday comes!"  
  
"Hey, the kids' got a point…if we're not gonna get caught, then we should do what we love the most to help out," James said his boyish grin back.  
  
"Hee hee, the Slytherins are gonna have it so bad until they finally crack," Sirius laughed his bark like laugh, "just watch how many shows up for the fight!"  
  
"Actually Sirius, I got a feeling that they're coming up with their own pranks to play on us…they're stronger than you're giving them credit for!" Lily said, though glaring at James instead, "we can't get cocky, or we'll lose. Point is, the Slytherins are strong and smart…we're gonna need all the Gryffindors to have a chance at beating them!"  
  
"Than let's get em!" James said throwing his fist in the air, making everyone stare at him, "it looked cool in my head," he mumbled turning a bit red.  
  
"Uh, Prongsie, haven't you learned anything from me? NEVER LISTEN TO YOUR HEAD!!!!" Sirius bellowed in James' ear, "it will do you no good!"  
  
"Only if it's malfunctioning, like yours!" Lily shot smirking.  
  
"Ouch, that hurt!" Sirius clutched his heart, but then turned to the other guys grinning, "better leave now, Queen Evans is getting grouchy!"  
  
A/N: Tell me what you all think…and I'll start up the pairing couples in the next chapters…so far you guys like the Remus/Hermione and Sirius/Hermione…please tell me who you'd like to have paired together! 


	5. Big White Ass

Disclaimer: Nope I don't own Harry Potter…*sob* if I did Johnny Depp (DROOL!!! Hottest pirate I've ever seen ^_~) would play as Sirius Black in PoA movie!   
  
  
  
A/N: OMG, THANKS SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FOR ALL THE REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok most of you voted for Hermione and Sirius, but lots of you voted for Hermione and Remus…so I decided that since it's gonna be a little hard getting the playboy Sirius to settle down and all, we'll give Remus and Herm a chance…but then when things get warmed up Sirius'll come into the picture…then we'll have a little love triangle thing going…see which one works the best! ^_^ thanks again for all the wonderful reviews!!!!!!  
  
Hermione got out of the shower; a lavender towel wrapped around her, and made her way to her dorm, where she found the only other awake person Lily. She was looking even prettier than usual with her red locks straightened, and was fussing over a huge mess of clothes on her bed, but when she saw Hermione, a large smile covered her face…and Hermione suddenly remembered what the girl was getting ready for, her stomach sinking.  
  
"Hey, oh my gosh, I can so use your help right now!" Lily picked up two pretty…yet skimpy tank tops, "the white brings out my tan, but the green one make my eyes more noticeable…what do you think?"  
  
"Uh…I think…" Hermione suddenly got an idea, "you definitely need a sweater!!! It's FREEZING out there!"  
  
"What?" Lily's face fell for a second, but then her eyes traveled towards the open window and back giving Hermione a questioning look.  
  
"Um…brrrrr…" Hermione fake shivered lamely avoiding the other girls eyes, who only smiled.  
  
"Gosh you're worst then my mom," Lily said pulling off her PJs and pulling on the white top, "chill, just cause this is a boarding school, it doesn't mean they care about what we wear out of class!!! In fact they don't really care what we wear even in class. 3 years ago Sirius only wore bright colored Hawaiian shirts all year long, and Dombledore told all the teachers to leave him alone and let him dress how he likes."  
  
"Really???" Hermione never knew this, probably cause it wasn't in Hogwarts: the history.  
  
"Yup, this school is pretty cool, cause of Dombledore probably," Lily grinned, "so take out your favorite clothes and party…and I gotta go meet Harry," Lily checked her watch walking towards the door.  
  
"WAIT!" Hermione suddenly burst out, to her it didn't seem right to have Lily dressed like that for her to-be-son, "YOU CAN'T GO!!!"  
  
"What?" Lily looked at her in confusion, but then something seemed to have clicked in her head, "Hermione, do you have a—"   
  
"NO!" she said quickly, and an idea suddenly hit her, the only way she could think of to keep both Lily and Harry out of a sticky situation, "Lily you can't date Harry, he is gay!"  
  
"You're kidding," Lily said at once, but the serious expression on Hermione's face didn't budge, "B-b-but…are you sure?"  
  
"Uh huh, he and Ron used to go out…but it all ended pretty badly, it's a wonder they're still friends if you know what I mean," Lily just stared at Hermione in shock, "listen Lily, they're both pretty sensitive about this, so could you keep it quiet, please. I mean I wasn't even supposed to tell you…"  
  
"Of…of course," Lily said slowly, but then a small smile formed across her face, "and here I was thinking some kind of miracle happened, meeting a guy with actual feeling and personality. Gosh no wonder he was so easy to talk…he actually listened. You know what? I should've known, it was all too good to be true…"  
  
"I'm sorry," Hermione said, honestly feeling bad for lying to her.  
  
"No, it's not your fault! I'm the stupid one who thinks she can find a "fat-free", James Potter, from the head that is!" she now ripped off her clothes, replacing them with school robes, "Oh well, Harry is still pretty cool, at least he is a boy I can actually talk to about stuff."  
  
"Yup, he is good kid, easy to hang out with," Hermione said now cheerfully, "have fun!"  
  
"I will," Lily said walking away, and unfortunately Hermione didn't know what was in her mind.  
  
After getting dressed Hermione walked down to the common room, feeling a little uneasy over her little lie, and decided she didn't really feel like eating. Instead she thought she'd go and pay Ron a visit in his dormroom, and ran up the stairs before thinking about the consequences. She pushed the door open just as James dropped his towel, and got a nice image of his butt (which she was dreadfully thinking must look like Harry's). Feeling her face burn red Hermione was about to turn around and run AWAY, but then Sirius' voice stopped her.  
  
"Don't worry Hermione, half the school's seen James' hairy 'hind!" he grinned at her.  
  
"Yup, he mooned the Slytherins the night before the last Quidditch game, last year!" Remus added, the only one who was already dressed.  
  
"Our Prongsie is proud of his big white ass, never loses a chance to show it off!" Sirius said in such a proud voice, Hermione couldn't help but crack a smile.  
  
Feeling a bit warm all over, Hermione didn't feel awkward anymore, it was hard to around the Marauders, she had now realized. Slowly she made her way towards Ron' bed, trying to avoid James' face, but found him planted in front of her. Mortified she looked up and found his hazel eyes twinkling.  
  
"Really Hermione, it's ok!!!" he said and hugged her, making her blush even more, "If they were to change the school logo, it'll turn to my ass…it's been so many times, I'm pretty sure it's lost it's effect!"  
  
  
  
Hermione then felt much better and sat down on Ron's bed. Peter decided to hide behind their curtains to change, but Sirius pulled his even more open, so that they could now see a tall skinny black girl stirring. Hermione tried not to watch as Sirius leaned down to kiss her, though she didn't know why, he turned her on. She quickly had to tell herself that this was inappropriate at school, and frowned at him.  
  
"Do you ever sleep alone?" she asked after the other girl now wrapped in a towel disappeared out the room.  
  
"Where is the fun in that," Sirius said cheerfully, now walking towards her smiling, "would YOU like to join me tonight?"  
  
"In your dreams," she wanted to snap back, but the grin on his face kept her voice soft. So instead she threw a pillow at him  
  
"Oh come on, 'Mione, you know you want me," he said his face now inches from hers, still grinning, and Hermione couldn't help but grin back.  
  
"Oh but I don't," she said pushing him away gently.  
  
"And why is that 'Mione? Don't you think I'm cute?" Sirius was now tugging her hair, but gently.  
  
"That's just it Sirius, I don't think you're cute!" Hermione smirked at him.  
  
"Is that so? Ok than we'll just have to see about that?" suddenly Sirius started tickling Hermione, who was now laughing uncontrollably with tears in her eyes, "do you think I'm cute?"  
  
"No," Hermione chocked out trying to get away.  
  
"Am I cute Hermione?" Sirius asked smirking, tickling her harder.  
  
"YES!" she gasped for breath, but just then Sirius' grin widened and he stopped, "heh heh, works every time!"  
  
Hermione raised her eyebrows at him, "I'll get you for that Sirius Black!"  
  
"Will you two get a room," said Ron who had just walked out of the room's washroom, looking at the two rather jealously.  
  
There was a time when Hermione thought her and Ron could get together, but then he ended up spending most of the summer with Luna Lovegood, who had the hugest crush on him and didn't live too far away. After that Hermione had decided that the two of them were MUCH better off as friends anyway. Now seeing him look jealous gave Hermione a sense of satisfaction, though she was aware that she wasn't acting like her usual self…Sirius seemed to have that kind of effect on her.   
  
Sirius grinned at Hermione, "So how's the fight coming Ms. Rebel?"  
  
"Everyone is so excited," Hermione said, then bit her lip feeling a little worried, "I just hope it doesn't go too far, or else someone might get badly hurt!"  
  
"Hey don't worrie," Sirius told her now getting up, and jumping on James' back, "me and my good buddy Prongsie just got the prefect idea for today's prank…who knows, maybe by Friday the Slytherins'll get so scared they won't show!"   
  
"I doubt that!"  
  
"Listen kiddo, whats gonna happen will happen…no point worrin' bout it!" James said trying to push Sirius off, so he could put on his robes, "my mom always says you should never worrie about the future, or you'll grow old too fast!"  
  
"You're mom also says, to never put anything on fire," Remus pointed out looking through the mess on the floor in front of Sirius' bed, "SIRIUS!!!! Where the hell is my transfiguration notebook!!!"  
  
"You might wanna look under those shirts," he pointed at a small piled of clothes on top of each other, then turned back to Hermione, "don't think about it too much…Gryffindor is the best, we always beat Slytherin in everything, well except for the house cup that is!"  
  
"If anyone should be worried, it's the Slytherins, and not just cause of our brilliant pranks!" James added, than jumped on Sirius' back, and they both started chanting "Gryffindor RULES" over and over again.  
  
  
  
Ron seemed to enjoy this and started chanting along with them and Peter, Remus on the other hand raised an amused eyebrow at Hermione, who shook her head smiling, before they made their way out of the room together. 


	6. Batty Boi

Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
  
A/N: I'm Sooooooooooooooooooo SORRY for not updating sooner…but my computer wouldn't let me go on the net for a LONG time (think I've know what hell is like now?)….I just hope it's ok now *pout*. Anyway thanks for all the reviews, and for waiting!!! And WOW…I didn't know you guys wanted a Harry/Sirius slash…I think I'll give everything a chance, heh heh!   
  
Harry smiled, he was so amazed at how comfortable his mom was around him, but when she put her head on his lap…Harry felt the bottom of his stomach sink, wondering if Hermione had been right…  
  
"Silthia always says that every guy in the school wants me, I mean I've been asked out so many times…but something keeps me from getting into anything with any of them…"  
  
"Err," Harry couldn't believe his ears, remembering back to what Hermione had told him a long time ago when Cho had started talking about all the guys into her, he felt a little sick. What if his mother was trying to make him jealous? What if she was hitting on him…urgh!  
  
"There is this really hot Gryffindor 7th year Kingsley Shacklebolt, he is absolutely perfect, smart, sweet, handsome, ya know…but I ended up blowing him off too, just like everyone else," She let out a huge sigh, and Harry decided it was time to say something, but Lily beat him to it, "it's so comfortable talking to you, knowing what you are."  
  
"WHAT?" Harry chocked on his piece of toast, and Lily quickly got up looking at him fearfully.  
  
"Oh my gosh…I didn't just say that…did I? Oh no!" Lily bit her lip.  
  
"Lily, what do you mean?" Harry said in a forced calm voice, praying that she was talking about something totally different than what he was thinking.  
  
"I…I mean your secret," Lily gave him a sad small smile, "I heard Ron and Hermione talking this morning…they didn't know I was there!"  
  
"No…no, it can't be," Harry said looking into Lily's eyes desperately, but her eyes were screaming out the truth, "Lily, listen you've got to keep quiet about this…do you understand? A lot is at sake here—"  
  
"Harry! People at Hogwarts are very excepting, specially in these dark times…people that matter wont judge you over this!!!" Lily patted him on the arm giving him a reassuring look.  
  
"That's nice…but you've got to keep quiet, cause Dombledore made me promise to do so! Ok?"   
  
"Of course, if that's what you want," Lily said quickly, "but I'm always here for you if you need to talk or anything, ok hun?"  
  
"Thanks," Harry said, realizing with a pang, after she had called him hun, that she must know the truth.  
  
"Talking out these kinds of things will make you feel much better, and I'd love to help you Harry, you're so sweet!" Lily ran her hand through his hair.  
  
***  
  
"Hey Remus," a pretty girl waved to him as she passed by.  
  
"Wow, you're pretty popular," Hermione said, wondering if Remus knew every single person in the school.  
  
"It's a little thing you get after putting up with James and Sirius," Remus laughed softly, "they're pretty funny most of the times…as long as you walk away when they become brain dead!"   
  
Hermione smiled, she could talk to Remus so easily, it was refreshing to have a boy with actual brain cells…one that actually read books not school related. Hermione had always like hanging out with guys better, girls were always too judgmental, but Ron and Harry had never managed to hold up a intelligent conversation about lots of stuff she was interested in. There was of course Lily, but Remus seemed to be reading her mind, it was almost mind goggling how much they had in common…and those amber eyes didn't hurt either. Hermione didn't want to think it, but she found Remus Lupin quiet handsome…but a little voice in the back of her head reminded her every once in a while that he used to be her teacher…yet the more time they spend here, their real home and time seemed to be a lifetime away, insignificant and easy to forget.  
  
"So you've gotta tell me about Beauxbatons," Remus said pulling a chair out for Hermione, making her blush.  
  
"Oh it's not too interesting, I rather you tell me about Hogwarts, this place seems so incredible" but before Remus could get a word out the whole of the Gryffindor table had crowded around them, all with eager excited looks on their faces.  
  
"You're Hermione aren't you?" one kid asked looking down at her in admiration.  
  
"So where is the fight gonna be?" someone else asked.  
  
"Where finally gonna beat the shit out of the Slytherins, that'll teach 'em to mess with the coolest house in the school!!!!"   
  
  
  
"YEAH! Those idiots are history!!!!!"  
  
Hermione looked at Remus, who raised an eyebrow grinning, and joined in with all the excitement over the fight…however that wasn't it. People from other houses also came up to them, they too were excited about this, and wished them all good luck.  
  
"Wow," Hermione breathed, and Remus' grin widened.  
  
"Welcome to Hogwarts; Marauder's era!" Remus said making her smile.  
  
***  
  
"Potter, Black, glad you could join us!" said McGonagall coldly, but the two boys just grinned.  
  
"Sup MG?" Sirius said cheerfully.  
  
"Ya we're glad too, this class is pretty cool," James said eagerly.  
  
"It's the bomb! Without Transfiguration Hogwarts would seize to exist," Sirius held a strait face.  
  
"Get to you're seats you two," McGonagall said her voice still rather cold, though Harry got the impression she was holding back a smile.  
  
"When MG commands, we humble students obey," the two said together, making their way to the back of the class.  
  
  
  
Harry saw James and Ron exchange a grin, as they took the desk behind Lupin and Peter, and realized the two boys must have been away doing some kind of prank. Overwhelmed with excitement, as soon as McGonagall started writing on the board, Harry leaned the desk beside him, with a questioning look.  
  
"Today's prank is a tiny bit different…it's rather violent," Sirius said with an air much like Santa handing out gifts.  
  
"Oh ya! Just don't bet on seeing the Slytherins at dinner tonight!!!" James nudged Sirius and they both burst into laughter, but lucky for them, before McGonagall had noticed anything, Remus stuffed chocolate frogs in their mouths.   
  
"So where were you just now?" Harry asked bursting to learn what was going to happen.  
  
"Sleeping in," James shrugged, his mouth still full of chocolate.  
  
"You'd think being a Potter will mean you'd have good manners," said a voice in front of Harry.  
  
"Ah Evens, that just proves you know very little about the magical families. NO Potter has good eating manners, and definitely NOT the men anyway!" James said shaking his head.  
  
"True true," Sirius smirked, "James' dad always says 'No point in eating if you don't use those fingers!' and his Uncle Gog never got up from the table without half his food dripping down his shirt…I once saw a piece of chicken stuck to the back of his head!!!!"  
  
"Er…" Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing, though when it all sink in it left a large grin on his face, "cool!"  
  
"Ya I know! The Potters have got it all right!!!" Sirius grinned, stealing a bunch of chocolate frogs from Lupin's bag and stuffing them all in his mouth, "ooo otta uv em!" (you gotta love them!)  
  
"uh…right," Lily clearly looked disgusted, but smiled anyway, "so you guys gonna play another dirty trick on the Slytherins tonight??"  
  
"Yup, and we've already took care of phase one late last night…all we have to do is send em free…" James looked rather dreamy for a second before turning back to Lily, "so you filled in all the Gryffindors yet?"  
  
"More like the whole school! Everyone's so excited, it's unbelievable…when the Slytherins lose they're really gonna be embarrassed!" they shared dark smiles.  
  
"I still can't believe the Slytherins dared—"   
  
"Detention Mr. Potter, for talking in my class, and you two Ms. Evens…oh and Mr. Black, I haven't forgotten about you! I'll be seeing you three in my office at 7:30 sharp!" McGonagall said her eyes narrowed at the whole lot of them.  
  
"What did I do?" Sirius said innocently, or trying to be anyway.  
  
"I'm not stupid Black! Now turn Ms. Jones' hair back to hair, I don't want her catching a cold with that block of ice!!!" and with that McGonagall turned around, as a disappointed Sirius pointed his wand at a surprised girl, with red cheeks…Harry had the weirdest feeling he'd met her somewhere.  
  
***  
  
Sitting down in History of Magic, Harry quickly put his head in his arms getting ready to fall sleep, however since nothing was the same with the Marauders around, then neither was this class!!! Within minutes of Professor Binns (still a ghost!) lecture, James quietly sneaked out of his seat and to the empty one on it's left, beside a very pale girl.  
  
Giving Ron a questioning look Harry turned to watch as James took out his wand, but just then a ray of silver light came at him, which James dodged, and quickly sent a blue one right back…at Sirius. Harry watched in amazement as his father and Sirius dueled in silence, though when their hexes hit things they could hear cracks, which was probably what attracted the attention of the whole class. While everyone watched a pretty cool dueling match between James and Sirius, Professor Binns was still reading facts, much like a vacuum, and it wasn't until Sirius exploded James' chair, sending the other boy on the floor with a loud thump, when Binns actually stopped and looked up at them.  
  
"What is the problem, Mr. Black, Mr. Potter?" Harry astonished that he knew their names looked up to see James slowly getting up.  
  
"My chair exploded," James said simply.  
  
"Ah, I see. Get a new one then," and Binns went back to his reading, and James made his way back to his original seat.  
  
"As boring as this class looks, it could actually be the most useful of all!" James said grinning at Sirius who was tilting back in his chair, with his wand out, and within seconds a tall girl with beautiful golden locks' head began smoking, looking as though she had just been executed as her hair stood up all tangled and frizzy.  
  
Harry and Ron watched in admiration, as James, Sirius and Remus put various hexes on their fellow students, such as causing them to bloat, or even shrink a bit, and the victims who were all either sleep or totally out of it were none the wiser. However they only did it to a few students, saying that it would be wise, as their secret would be revealed. Just then James started tracing letters in the air, and Harry noticed these words where forming on the board as though an invisible chalk was writing on it. It read: 'I am a batty boy!'  
  
"It's permanent…if Binns even notices," James laughed high fiving Sirius.  
  
"Too bad we can't see how the next class will take it when they walk in!" Peter said, though he was grinning.  
  
"'Round the same, I think," Sirius said looking around as the rest of the class had slowly began to notice the words on the board and were nudging the person beside them, giggling silently.  
  
"I wonder if it's true…I mean he was never married I've heard," Remus said glassy eyed for a second, before shaking his head and getting up, but just then bumped into someone, a very familiar someone.  
  
"That wasn't very nice," Lily said coldly turning to James, "in fact it was out right DISGUSTING!!!!"  
  
"Oh come on, chill Evans, it was just a dumb joke," Sirius said getting to his feet.  
  
"Well I'm not laughing," she glared at him and turned back to James, "being gay is nothing to laugh at, it's perfectly normal, even more that being a self-centered bulling toerag!!!"  
  
"Hey, not that again," James said calmly, "Lets—"  
  
"You think you're the best, and everyone that's different is just a loser you can make fun of, let me tell you something James Potter; IT'S NOT FUNNY!!!"   
  
"HE IS GAY, THAN!!!" Remus said triumphantly, going a bit pink seeing everyone was looking at him, "well, then why else would she be so protective…"  
  
"Urgh, you know what? Forget I ever said anything, you just don't get it and you NEVER will!!!" with that she stormed out the classroom, and with a shrug, Hermione followed her.  
  
"She acts weirder everyday," James said slowly.  
  
"I know, how are you supposed to get something if she doesn't explain it? We haven't learned Legilimacy yet," Sirius said, shoving his books in his bag, and got a whacked in the head by James.  
  
Most of morning break the marauders and Ron and Harry decided to pig out at their little secret room, but when Sirius got himself a beer, Remus grabbed it away from him, saying a sugar high Sirius was more than enough, adding alcohol was just dangerous.   
  
Harry was bewildered at how much his father, Sirius, and Remus could eat, and their table manners would make even Ron's look sophisticated. For sometime Harry just watched his father and Sirius…he'd never dreamed he would ever get to see them like this…let alone hang out with them! It was amazing, yet weird enough, he felt more home here than any other place he had been, all his life. For the first time people didn't single him out…sure they seemed to like him, after all he looked like James Potter, their Quidditch hero…but no one looked at him like he was this big mystery, like a walking museum item!!! No more whispers behind him wherever he went, or people judging him, by things others said or wrote about him!!! Here he got to hang with his dad and godfather…and had a blast, with his best friends here too…and no longer was he Harry Potter the Boy Who Lived! No, now he was Harry Potter, just that, with a bunch of great friends…and for the first time a REAL challenger in Quidditch!  
  
  
  
***  
  
As they walked up to their divination class, James suddenly stopped in his tracks, making Sirius bump into him, and trip backwards into Remus and both of them toppling down the stairs, and not before they got Ron. Coming to rest at the bottom of steps, Sirius, Remus, and Ron laid tangled and groaning.  
  
  
  
"Sorry Remus, mate. You too Ron," Sirius managed breathing heavily, "why the bloody hell did you stop Prongs?"  
  
"I just realized something," James said in a horrified voice, looking at a picture of a foul looking creator on the wall, and Harry was sure he hadn't even noticed the little fiasco.  
  
"That you have no brains?" Sirius said grimly rubbing his neck, the trio were still all tangled up.  
  
"No, Padfoot…WE DIDN'T FINISH THE PRANK!!!!!"   
  
"WHAT???!!!" and Sirius quickly got up, "NO!!! No way! We didn't…."  
  
"We did!!! We totally forgot about it!" James began rubbing his temples, "aaah, life's stress!!!"  
  
"Ok…then…we'll have to get out of class!" Sirius said biting his bottom lip.  
  
"Skip?"  
  
"NO! That'll attract attention, specially since our prank is kinda dangerous…no…we need to escape with good reasons, though a bit of drama wouldn't hurt!" Sirius walked up to join James and the two disappeared upstairs muttering excitedly now.  
  
"Should I ask?" Harry looked at Remus who was getting up too.  
  
"It'd be better if you didn't! You okay Ron?" he held out a hand to help him, and groaning Ron got up.  
  
  
  
The four walked to class all wondering, almost hungrily of what James and Sirius were gonna do. Getting closer to their class they suddenly heard a loud yelp, and dashed up hoping they wouldn't miss what was going on! 


	7. Little Piggy James

Disclaimer: If only I own Harry Potter…Remus Lupin would be played by Christian Bale, like it was rumoured…but since I don't, than I can only hope the other guy is good! ^_^  
  
A/N: Thanx for all your SUPER reviews! And to answer to the slash thing…well originally I wanted a Sirius/Herm/Remus love triangle, and I still want that, so slash pairing would happen after the result of that, and honestly I like flings for slash better than a whole long term thing…but for now, Lily thinks Harry and Ron are gay…but are they??? ^_~  
  
While the yelp coming from Ernie Coppercauldron was indeed the work of the Marauders, it sure wasn't the brilliant new plan, the poor kid's pants had just exploded open. Thinking back to History of Magic classroom, Harry grinned.  
  
The teacher had put only two chairs with each table, as to divide them all in to pairs. Harry and Ron took the table on the right side of James and Sirius, and watched as their new divinition teacher, Ms. Chancery drifted out of the shadows. To Harry she looked like those muggle fortune tellers on TV, a large woman with long curly dark hair, huge dark eyes, and big lips covered in a dark dull color. Harry and Ron exchanged grins, both sure that she too was another old phony, much like Tralawney.  
  
Drowsy, Harry listened to Chancery drawn on and on, studying her large brown mole. He hardly even noticed she had stopped, that is until she was standing beside the table next to them, checking to see if Sirius and James' skills with the crystal ball were at the level of their finished OWLs! Giving Ron an alarmed look, Harry turned to watch them.  
  
"That's nice, I'm sure you had a wonderful summer Black," Chancery said sounding rather irritated, but Sirius' grin only widened, "now tell me all that you see in the ball!"  
  
"I see…mmm…I seeeeeee…" Sirius closed his eyes halfway, trying to look and sound just as mystical their teacher, who now looked very anxious.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Oh my…it's…it's so clear…I see…" for a second Harry was sure Chancery was gonna start shaking Sirius, if he didn't hurry up and tell them, but then with an sudden impressive look, Sirius' eyes popped open, " I see…NAKED GIRLS…lots and lots of naked girls."  
  
"BLACK!"  
  
  
  
Laughing Ron and Harry turned to watch, as Chancery now turned to James, with a pained face. James merely grinned, showing that he wasn't about to pull a Sirius.  
  
"I KNOW, now tell me what you see!"   
  
"I see my mom," James said, wincing towards the crystal ball.  
  
"Is that all?" Chancery said sounding relieved.  
  
"Yes…except…she is a pig!!!"  
  
"WHAT??!!!"   
  
"Oh no! That means…I'm a pig too…" suddenly looking as though he was in pain, James whipped his arms up, staring at them fearfully…and then, out of no where, James turned into a PIG!!!   
  
  
  
The whole class washed as a little pink piggy appeared exactly where James had been sitting a second ago, and without waiting around, he leaped off of James's chair, and began to run across the room, breaking china, tipping over candles, and snoring at the kids. It was quite obvious, human or pig; James Potter was a little troublemaking prat!!!  
  
Not too long later, it seemed like Chancery had, had enough of little piggy James, and became rather hysterical, screaming at Sirius to go catch him. Looking delighted Sirius Jumped up so fast his chair got knocked over…but the piggy was too fast for him. Seizing his chance to get in on the prank, Harry and Ron both got up to help, but not before Remus and Peter both dived over their desk at the same time, as the piggy emerged from under it, but only managed to knock their heads together.  
  
Out of the corner of his eyes, Harry was sure he saw Sirius *accidentally* kick the trapdoor open, and before long piggy James easily escaped from the room with it. Sirius practically dived down the stairs, closely followed by the others, and dashed down the North Tower so fast, Harry was amazed he didn't fall on his head. Yet it wasn't the stairs that knocked Sirius off his feet, but a rather sour looking professor.  
  
While running down the hallways, Sirius didn't notice Karkroff in time, and smacked right into him, sending the potion master's cauldron to go flying over his head…and fall right on top of piggy James, imprisoning him! Before Karkroff could get off from the flour and yell at him, Sirius sprang to his feet and ran to the upside down cauldron, mumbling a quick apology. Sirius quickly took the cauldron handles, and forcefully pulled it off and dived on top of the piggy…but James easily slipped from right under Sirius, sending him to hit the ground hard, chest first.  
  
Rubbing his ribs, Sirius got up, and smelled his hand. He then turned to the others grinning and suddenly smeared a yellow gooey something on Remus' faces, and dashed away after the pig. Disgusted Remus touched his cheek and brought his fingers to his nose, and his eyes widened first with realization, and then with humor. Laughing he muttered something about troll oil, and quickened his pace after Sirius and piggy James.  
  
If Piggy James had been a problem in Chancery's class, then he was a disaster in Prof. Moonstride's Arithmacy class. The poor Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff 6th years watched in horror as the pig pounced around their classroom drenching their precious parchments full of complicated formulas, with oil dipping from his soft skin. Remus successfully managed to lure piggy James out, but not after he sent half the books and Parchments on Moonstride's desk into the blazing red fire. Though Harry was sure the students and Moonstride were relieved, as they exited no one made a noise, it seemed the damaged caused was so disastrous that no one could even bear to manage the easy task of speaking.   
  
  
  
The little trip to Charms wasn't much better, though this time piggy James wasn't the only one in class destruction; he was more the cause than the source. The second the pig had slipped through the window, with the 5 boys close on his tail, the whole of the Slytherin and Hufflepuff 4th years were so distracted their charms not only not hit the right objects, but obviously didn't seem to had the desired effects, as much of the objects (as well as some unfortunate students) burned up in flames, exploded, or even began to sprout out some boils! But the Marauder's worries had just began…as the little piggy had just slipped into none other than McGonagall's 7th year Gryffindor and Ravenclaw class.  
  
His stomach burning with dread Harry followed the others after the pig, and boy was it bad. Harry dared the quickest look at McGonagall's face, only to see it dangerously pale, and her lips so thin they were hardly visible. While piggy James was indeed a major distraction for the NEWT class, so was Sirius (for the girls at least!), and neither was doing anything to help it. The pig kept prancing around, knocking things over, and Sirius had momentarily stopped his pig hunting, and was leaning down on a very attractive girl, with long shiny black hair. Just when Harry was sure McGonagall would explode, Sirius was caught in a liplock, and Harry ran out of the class his mind begging for cover. But fortunately it seemed, as though piggy James had sensed trouble, and he too dashed out of the door, and unbelievably so did Sirius, all in one piece.   
  
As much as Harry wanted this to be over, his sides were aching like mad, he knew it wasn't, as now the pig slipped out of the entrance hall and out to the grounds. Sirius who was now very flushed, grinned and ordered Remus and Peter to left, and Harry and Ron to right, with himself in the middle…and he yelled out 'GO' and all five boys divide on to the little piggy at the same time. Though still very slippery, piggy James was trapped from all sides, and could not scape. Swearing cheerfully, Sirius whipped out his wand, and instantly the pig had turned right back into James.  
  
  
  
"Glad you could join us again Prongsie!" Sirius said running his hands over all the slime on his shirt.  
  
"I gotta admit, that was some good timing Padfoot…very impressive!" James grinned getting up, drenched in oil.   
  
"You knew what you were doing all this time!!!" Remus cried, very red from all the running.  
  
"Of course, no pig is that cool!" James smirked.  
  
"You…YOU IDIOT!!!" Remus shouted, now even more red, "do you have any idea how much trouble you got us in with the most horrible teachers in this school??? Huh? Because of you now every single one of us will have detentions for the REST of the year!!!! I can't believe—"   
  
"Relax Moony!!!" Sirius cut him off, "we were merely doing what our Divinition professor instructed us to do! What if a few little accidents happened along the way—"  
  
"A FEW LITTLE accidents, ha! I wish—"  
  
"They have nothing to incriminate us with, no matter how mad they are!" Sirius finished triumphantly.  
  
"So what? They're gonna accept that James just SUDDENLY turned into a pig and back???" Remus asked doubtfully, and Ron and Peter looked as though they agreed with him…Harry on the other hand wasn't so sure as he watched Sirius' grin widen.   
  
  
  
"No, but they've got no evidence to prove anything else might have happened, as everyone was too busy watching James' mad act to notice me transfiguring him! Even you didn't see it, and that's saying something!"  
  
"Yup! All yield to my incredible acting skills!!!" James said in an booming voice, before getting whacked by Sirius.   
  
"I really would Jamsie, honest, but with all that grease you look like Snivellus, and I can barely stand to look at you…let alone show love!" and this time Sirius was the one who got whacked.  
  
"So…back to class I suppose," Peter suggested nervously, eyeing the two.  
  
"Actually, you guys go ahead…today's prank is a treat for you all!" James said exchanging the widest grin yet, with Sirius.  
  
"Ya, just be forewarned…it's rather gruesome!!!" Sirius advised, and Remus suddenly looked tense and was about to speak, when Sirius quickly shook his head, "not THAT gruesome…just a bit fun…" 


	8. Haunted for Life

Disclaimer: I own nuttin…well except for…um you'll see! ^_~  
  
A/N: Thanks for all the GREAT WONDERFUL reviews!!!!!! Ok here's the thing about slash…I'm not making this a slash story…but I'm might add a small little slashy kiss, and I PROMISE IT WON'T BE LIKE GROSS!!! Honestly I don't think any of the HP characters are gay (JK would've let us know if they were!) so I won't make them gay in my fic, and even if I go through with the little plan, in the end everyone'll come out straight…but some for humor purpose is definitely fun to use…or…you'll see. But don't get the wrong idea, this isn't a slash fic, and I feel bad for offending those of you who thought it was!!! Anyway….a new character is gonna come in this chapter, and keep in mind that in the end there'll most likely be a twist about her.   
  
Harry was just making his way to the Gryffindor tower with Ron, talking about how little of Hermione they saw these days, when Professor. McGonagall called out his name. Turning around dreadfully, wondering if she was gonna bust him for something, he asked her what was going on.   
  
"I want you to take something to Madam Pomfrey for me," she said and without waiting for an answer shoved a small brown box into his hands.  
  
Mystified Harry told Ron he'd be right back, and made his way to the hospital wing. As soon as he entered though, Harry was surprised to see Dumbledore there leaning over a patient and, and watched as he straightened up turning to leave. Yet all thoughts of Dumbledore had left Harry's mind, he didn't even notice as he passed him, because the second Dumbledore had stood up Harry's eyes had locked into the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.  
  
Harry watched her flushed face, as though it had just been sunburned, taking in the beauty of her perfect heart shaped face, and longing to touch her beautiful full lips, looking at the beads of moister the water she had just drank left on them. Yet what took Harry's breath away were her eyes, as though just dipped in honey they sparkled in gold, but it was not enough to cover the pain within them…pain that was transferred to Harry through those astonishing eyes, shockingly real and powerful.  
  
As thought drowning deeper and deeper into her eyes, Harry did not notice that Dumbledore was standing next to him, watching him. His eyes were taking in as much of her as they could, until he felt Dumbledore's cold fingers on his shoulder.   
  
"Harry, can I have a word with you?" he said quietly to a blushing Harry, realizing that he had just stood there dumbstruck, watching that girl.  
  
"Sure sir, I…Professor McGonagall told me to—"   
  
"Actually, I was the one who told her to make you come here," Dumbledore chuckled lightly, while Harry stared at him in disbelief, "you see there is someone here I'm sure would do you a whole lot of benefit to meet."  
  
"You mean that girl?"  
  
"Yes, Voldemort's daughter to be exact!"   
  
"What?!! But…she can't be…" Harry felt his mouth go dry, someone so beautiful couldn't be related to Voldemort…no, Dumbledore must have been jesting with him! But Dumbledore just smiled sadly and nodded his head, "h-how?"  
  
"It's quite sad actually, her mother and Voldemort had been lovers, until that is Voldemort left her never knowing she was pregnant. I had been keeping a watch on them, as her mother got married…but I did not see it coming as the death eaters were ordered to kill the whole family. By the time I got there it was much too late, both her parents were dead—"  
  
"How come they didn't kill her?"  
  
"Because she is much too young and beautiful at 17," Dumbledore looked disgusted, as though he could not stand the thought, "they were planning on raping her!"  
  
"HIS OWN DAUGHTER…how could he?" Harry felt a rather cold chill rundown his spine, he couldn't get those pained eyes out of his head.  
  
"I'm quite sure Voldemort has no idea about that, but she knows," Dumbledore looked rather grave, "that is why Harry I must ask you to not say a word to anyone of her true identity, if the truth comes out it might cost her life."  
  
"I understand," Harry said quietly, then looked down a picture of her flushed skin passed through his mind, "why is she so sick?"  
  
"They gave her paralyzing potion, which is rather harsh on ones body when given the antidote. She has quite a high fever and it might take her a while to recover."  
  
"Sir, what did you mean when you said meeting her would benefit me?" but Dumbledore just chuckled.  
  
"I want you to help her get through this! The only person who would understand her pain of losing someone she loved so dearly…I'm asking you if you'd help her, spend a few nights a week with her while she gets better…but come alone. She has gone through a lot, but you two need each other, keep your eyes open Harry…cause she is going to teach you an important lesson, the most important thing you'll ever learn!"  
  
"Ok," Harry said staring into those blue eyes, but Harry hadn't agreed to this for Dumbledore's sake…it was those pained eyes, burning holes deep into his heart! "I'll be there for her."  
  
***  
  
Hermione smiled when she saw Remus sitting bye himself at the library, looking through a heavy book. Quietly she made her way towards him and tapped his shoulder making him jump.  
  
"Hermione, didn't expect you here…specially without Evans, you guys have been joined at the hip these days," Remus said looking up at her with those warm amber eyes of his.  
  
"Oh so you've noticed?"  
  
"Kinda hard not too, when the prettiest Gryffindor girls start ignoring you!" Remus said with a small smile, making Hermione pink.  
  
"Me pretty," Hermione said trying to casually play it off, tugging at her long curly hair, "with MY hair, yeah right!"  
  
"I like your hair," Hermione would have thought he was joking, until she saw the seriousness in his eyes turning a deeper shade of red, "It's so wild and free…yet totally adorable."  
  
  
  
Hermione opened her mouth to say something but was cut off as James appeared behind Remus, out of breath and black paint smeared on his forehead. Remus quickly whipped around as he heard James call his name.  
  
"Moony," James chocked out, trying to catch his breath, then started talking really fast, "we need your help, someone has to lift the frizzing charm as they come, and me and Sirius have to take care of the last bit of it, so there'll be no time for us to the monsters loose, WE NEED YOU!!!!"  
  
"James…what the hell are you talking about?" Remus looked as though he hadn't managed to take a single word in, and at that moment Hermione screamed out in shock as she got jabbed in the sides, and turned to see Sirius' grinning face.  
  
"Just saying hi. Hi!" Sirius waved a hand as Hermione, who hit in the stomach, though she couldn't suppress her the smile twitching at the corner of her lips.  
  
"Pads we have no time to play around, we need to get the blood," James glared at Sirius while dragging Remus out of his chair, "we explain everything after we get there, Moony!"  
  
  
  
Hermione watched as the three boys disappeared, there was something about Remus and Sirius leaving her side that made her sad…and ashamed to do so, as they were in their 30s in her time!!!  
  
***  
  
"Harry!" Ron exclaimed throwing an arm around Harry's shoulder, "Where were you?"  
  
"Hospital Wing," Harry said with a small smile, but for some reason he wanted to keep the mysterious girl to himself for now, "the potatoes look really good tonight."  
  
"Uh," Ron gave Harry a suspicious look, but seeing Harry busy stuffing his mouth, gave up, "well Sirius and James said their prank is gonna be played at dinner…and all the Slytherins look pretty normal to me!"  
  
However, as soon as these words had left Ron's mouth, Sirius appeared with James following behind…and they made their way to the Slytherin table. Before anyone had even taken this fact to their brains, the two boys emptied their bags on the floor…revealing little transparent bags full of some kind of dark liquid, and pointing their wands at them the shouted out a charm together, sending the little bags to explode on each of the Slytherins.  
  
It took almost a minute for this to sink in and for the Slytherins to get out of their chairs angrily, chasing after the two Marauders, by which time Harry and Ron thought it best to follow…wondering what the heck was going on.   
  
Harry and Ron made sure to stay a bit behind the Slytherins, and so did all the others who followed them, and boy was there a crowed behind them…a crowd that included teachers! Knowing Sirius and James were gonna be stuck with detention for a WHOLE month, Harry followed out the Entrance and entered the cool grounds, that were not yet dark.  
  
It was a very good thing that Harry and Ron were running some distance away from the Slytherins, because only a few minutes running through the green grass, and suddenly all the Slytherins were attacked by huge black monstrous creatures. Harry wasn't scared though, one glance and he knew them to be Thestrals…but he couldn't say the same about Ron, who looked as though he'd have a heart attack. Harry wanted to try to explain to Ron what was going on, but with all the noise going on he couldn't even hear himself, and turned to watch horrified Slytherins screaming and fighting their way through, thinking the Thestrals were going to attack.  
  
Harry's eyes however traveled to the great monstrous creatures and realized something was wrong, as there skin was no longer soft and leathery looking…it was more like…colored in! That was when he finally understood, laughing softly, he realized James and Sirius had painted the Thestrals and drenched them in blood, before chasing them outside so the Thestrals would smell their blood and want a taste. Since most of the Slytherins don't know what Thestrals look like they're scared thinking their some sort of wild monsters, since they look it already, Harry thought grinning…but within seconds it was wiped off of his face.   
  
If his father or Sirius had painted the Thestrals black, it would mean that one of them, if not both, could see them. When Harry had first came here, he had thought it was all gonna be fun times with his father and friends…but Voldemort's shade still kept the joy from shining down, as he had learned this afternoon, and again now. A small voice inside his head told him, that he would always be fighting Voldemort, fulfilling the prophecy…no matter where or how far he ran.  
  
Not even remotely amused, Harry made his way back to the Entrance Hall and to the Gryffindor tower, before curling up in his bed, letting his burning tears flow…thinking about his mom and dad smiling at him, Cedric's blank gray eyes…just staring, dead. But most of all Harry's heart laid with Sirius, the way his grip felt on Harry's shoulder, his dark eyes shining with tears that first night…Harry's heart tightened and more tears ran down his cheeks, his whole buddy shaking even though his window was closed.  
  
As Harry fell sleep, she finally pushed the half open door and entered into view. Harry didn't know she had seen the look of sadness that had washed over him, or that she had followed him all the way to his room…he did not know that she stood hidden behind the door, not daring to leave him alone in so much distress.   
  
Quietly Lily walked up to Harry's bed and lowered herself to the ground, feeling as though his pain had burst into his heart as well, she stared into his haunted face. Even though deep sleep, Harry Potter fought his way through horror, Lily thought closing her eyes as a shiver ran down her spine. Mournfully, she took his pale cold hands in both of hers, attempting to warm them up, and startled she saw his expression change, and found him looking peaceful.  
  
Lily didn't understand, but she didn't care, even if he was gay and she couldn't be with him, Lily felt as though her heart bled out to him…though she had no idea why, but making Harry feel better somehow came natural to her. Whipping away her tears, Lily leaned up a little, and brushed her lips gently against the soft skin of his cheek, murmuring a soft 'goodnight'. 


	9. Intensity of the Spell

Disclaimer: I own nutting cept Ariadne….ya da ya da  
  
A/N: Thanks guys for the great reviews!!!! ^_^ oh and don't make a mistake about Voldie's daughter…her main purpose isn't a love story with Harry at all, she is NOT a Marry Sue…but I can't say anymore, just that she not gonna end up the way you think!!!  
  
"My Evans, WHAT are YOU doing here?" Sirius asked softly, bending over a startled Lily.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Are you drunk?" a faint smile played on Sirius' lips, but Lily who was now fully awake wasn't very amused.  
  
"Unlike you some people understand the importance of school, we don't fancy sitting in Transfiguration with a hangover!" She snapped, trying to get up, but stumbling and nearly falling back, but Sirius caught her around the waist.  
  
"Neither do I, there are all sorts of charms to get over that…but of course you wouldn't know," Sirius said as he half carried her towards the door, "great now people are gonna think I banged you up."  
  
"What?" laughing softly Sirius shook his head.  
  
"Let's just go, we don't wanna be late for our detention now, do we?"  
  
"We have a detention?" Lily felt as though her head really hurt, and bringing her hand to her forehead, she felt a slight bump, "argh, where did I hit my head?"  
  
"You finally noticed," Sirius' smile disappeared a bit, "I think on the edge of Harry's bed…"  
  
"Oh?"  
  
  
  
"Listen Lily…" Sirius suddenly stopped, he had no business to ask her this, specially when she was so confused and all…but the thought of how James' eyes sparkled every time Lily was mentioned pushed Sirius to open his mouth again, "are you into Harry?"  
  
"Harry?" and to Sirius' big surprise she started to laugh, but stopped immediately wincing and touching her forehead, "yeah right, like I could go out with him even if I want to!"  
  
"What do you mean," Sirius felt rather confused, what was the girl getting at?  
  
"I mean Harry is gay!" and at these words Sirius was so shocked he nearly dropped Lily down the stairs, but luckily he managed to gain his grip around her waist.  
  
"WHAT?" he hissed in Lily's ear, not wanting to get any more attention, while carrying his best friends' dazed crush out of his dorm room, but Lily only giggled.  
  
"And I actually thought I found my prefect guy till Hermione told me, you know that his cute redhead friend is gay too…she said they used to go out!" Lily grinned, while Sirius kept his teeth clenched together pretending he couldn't see everyone watching him with his arms around her.  
  
Lily occasionally talked or groaned, as the two wandered down the halls, but Sirius stayed quiet for the most of it, but he did sigh in relief when they got to the Transfiguration class and he could ease her into a desk, looking up to see James' surprised look. Slowly Sirius made his way towards him, and took the seat behind him, as an anxious James turned around waiting for the details.  
  
Sighing again Sirius told James about where he had found her, there was really no point of lying to James, for one thing he'd see right through him (they had just been too close for too long), and by now the whole of the Gryffindor Common room was probably buzzing with gossip about it. As soon as he caught the jealous look on James' face, Sirius quickly explained about the sexuality factor of Ron and Harry, and the two boys shared bewildered looks.  
  
"Are you sure?" James asked wide eyed, and Sirius slowly nodded.  
  
"That's what she told me," he turned his head towards Lily, who was now snoozing on her desk.  
  
Just then professor McGonagall walked in, looking at Lily coldly, and called her name so loud, she literally jumped up. As Lily looked around with wide confused eyes, Sirius tilted his chair back grinning to himself; for once someone else was in more trouble than he…not including James.  
  
"Miss Evans, how dare you sleep in my class during your detention!" McGonagall's lips looked rather thin, and her eyes were flashing, until she saw Lily's rather large bump on the head, when she let out a small gasp, and turn to James and Sirius, her eyes flashing!  
  
"It wasn't our fault!" the two boys objected, but McGonagall only raised her eyebrows.  
  
"Listen, I found her leaning over Harry's bed asleep, and then when I got her up there was the huge bump on her forehead!"   
  
"Alright, Mr. Black, I believe you," Sirius looked up startled, it was the first time McGonagall had said these words in this order to him…and for the first time he was at a loss of words, and he just sat there opening and closing his mouth like a gold fish, which James was quick to point out and got punched in the arm.  
  
"I think she hit her head on the bed or something," Sirius said shrugging, "but I've got no idea why she was there…is she even allowed?"  
  
"Yes Black, it's only the boys that are forbidden from the girls' dormitory! Miss. Evans? Are you alright?" she now turned to Lily looking much kinder.  
  
"She never looks at us that way," Sirius protested to a nodding James and got an icy glare from McGonagall, "You see!"  
  
"Fine," she smiled, but a second later winced from pain, causing McGonagall to look worried.  
  
"Potter, Black, take Miss. Evans to the Hospital Wing and leave for you're dormitories, you'll just have to serve your detentions another night!" and with that she left the classroom, James and Sirius there jaws dropped so low their faces looked twice it's length, and Lily just sitting there her hair curtained around her face, looking a bit dazed.  
  
***  
  
"Ariadne," Harry called out softly, seeing that she was sitting up, but she didn't turn around, "are you ok?"  
  
"What did Dumbledore tell you," came a low hissing voice.  
  
"uh…he said you were sick, er…something about a potion gone wrong," Harry lied feeling his cheeks burn, and Ariadne laughed rather harshly.  
  
"Right…he probably told you about everything…even the way I was nearly raped," she laughed even harder now, "tut, tut, you're not a very good liar are you?"  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
"It was written all over your voice…the way you said my name…" and suddenly she spun around, her honey like eyes suddenly as cold and hard as ice, "don't ever pity me! I never get hurt, it is not in my blood!!!"  
  
"I don't…I've been through the same sort of thing…" Harry began, taken off guard, but her laughter, this time softer, cut him off!  
  
"So what?" she raised an eyebrow, "people always think I'm so weak…they say my eyes are warm and soft as honey, but so were my mothers', and she couldn't be more farther from warmth."  
  
"What?" Harry wasn't sure he had heard her right, hadn't Dumbledore told him that it was her mother that was murdered!  
  
"Oh so he didn't tell you?" her smile disappeared a bit, she was obviously displeased with herself for revealing more than Harry already knew, "it doesn't matter, you probably grew up the way I did, or went through the same shit! BUT I DON'T CARE!!! Dumbledore thinks we could just sit down together and talk out our sorrow or something, like a cheap Cassandra Williamson fiction, he is such a fool…" and she laughed again, though this time, Harry passed his first shock, felt anger seep up through him.  
  
"Dumbledore is NOT a fool, everything he does has a reason, so if he wants us to become friends we will!" Harry practically yelled this out, though Ariadne looked nonplussed.  
  
"Says you! I have no interest in people telling me what to do, I don't care if they've gone through the EXACT same shit, they'll never be me!!!" she then whipped out her wand from underneath her pillow and looked at Harry coldly, "go to Dumbledore and tell him I don't need a mourning buddy, that I'll leave as soon and the potion has left it's effect on me. As much as I own my thanks to him, he can never own my life!!!"  
  
"Ah, I thought you'd feel like this Ariadne," said the soft voice of Dumbledore, making Harry turn around to see his ancient smiling face, "I want you to know that you are welcome to leave whenever you see fit, no one will keep you imprisoned, and certainly not me! You see the reason I've sent Harry to come and visit you is not to help you get through the pain, you are welcome to mourn in solitude and keep anything wish private!!! There is another rather crucial reason for his presence…I know from my sources that you are an excellent duelist, I want you to teach him and learn moves from him. When you are well…you will understand!"  
  
"What?" Harry hadn't expected this, he had been sure he was here to comfort her…besides, the girl burning in fever, how was she supposed to be any kind of an opponent for him in a duel?   
  
"Never underestimate you opponents," Dumbledore chuckled at the two of them, giving Harry a very small wink, "you both must train for what is to come, but I can't say anymore, just that in time you must learn to trust each other, understand this, you will need it!" and with that he turned and swiftly left the hospital wing without another word.  
  
"I really don't see the point of this," Ariadne sighed, but then turned to Harry with a raised eyebrow, "maybe if I beat you hard enough the first time, then he'll understand that no daughter of the Dark Lord's is gonna learn a thing from a common wizard boy!"  
  
"You know, you talk an awful lot for someone who's supposed to be sick," Harry said, feeling very annoyed, more than he ever had with any other person.  
  
"Hah! First lesson scarface; dueling has nothing to do with the state of the person, it's about you're magical intensity, power of your mind…but most of all what comes from inside you're heart!!!" and before Harry had even blinked she hit him with a freezing charm, making Harry feel as though his very flesh was made from ice, "you ever tired unforgivable curse, it will never come out right if you don't mean from inside you…and the more powerful the spell you're sending, the deeper it has to be the desire to see the results…"  
  
Harry tried to disarm her, but she blocked it smiling, and sent a jelly leg charm with such intensity that it shattered Harry's shield sending him to fall hard on the ground, his knees so wobbly he felt as though they'd fall off.  
  
"Most people think it's all about skills, knowledge and speed…but they don't know it's the power of the curse that matters most, how deep is your need, how far are you planning to go to get to your goal??? Don't you wonder why Voldemort's death eaters are so powerful? Voldemort teaches them that the intensity of the hex comes from inside, the burning desire…or desperation, get cocky and you're gone!"  
  
"How do you know all this," Harry said gasping as she had just hit him, with another hex, and this time he saw thick silver chains bound so tightly around him, he could not move an inch, "where did you learn how to fight…so powerfully?"  
  
"I'm Voldemort's daughter aren't I? You see Harry, even after he had left her, my dear mother was still madly infatuated with him…she thought that one day she could get him back, through me! Ever since I can remember she has been training me, teaching me how to fight…and she knew quite a lot, having been brought up in the depths of dark magic, but she thought somehow I'd become even stronger than her…so strong that Voldemort would accept me as his daughter someday!" her breath came out in a chilling hiss, and the next hex hit Harry.  
  
He watched as the chains broke away and turned into powder, instead a very sharp wind cut across Harry's chest, so sharp that he cried in pain, and look down startled to see a deep V like cut on his chest through his blood stained white shirt. Harry watch his blood spreading quickly through his shirt, feeling sick at the sight, and the desperation began to spread even more quickly than the flowing blood.  
  
Before he had realized it, Harry had picked up his wand despite the pain, and sent Ariadne flying off her bed, and hit the wall behind her, falling to the ground painfully. Incredibly enough she quickly sat up, her eyes full of shock.  
  
  
  
"That cut I marked you with…it was so deep…how?" She slowly got up to her feet retrieving her wand, and with a quick wave Harry's wound had healed, "You should have passed out from the pain…but your hex, it was so powerful…"  
  
"Look at yourself, you're mom must have been a heck of a teacher!" Harry said grimly rubbing his rather sour chest, and getting to his feet.  
  
"Ya, to bad she wasn't much of a mother," Ariadne said bitterly, but then turned to Harry, "good match, you have more of a spunk, but I got much to teach you…unless your too scared that is…"  
  
"How bout we continue tomorrow night," Harry suggested glaring at her, he wasn't he had forgiven her for the cuts, his shirt still glistered in blood "or are you too SHAKEN to keep going?" he smirked knowing that would hit a nerve, as her body was shaking very slightly, though Harry was sure it was the mix of the fever and her rather hard crash.  
  
"If you thought that was painful little boy, I have news for you, you've only got a small taste of what I have in store for you…tomorrow will get much worst!!!"   
  
With that Ariadne conjured up curtains to cover her from others view including Harry's, who turned around, feeling anger wash through him. Who the hell did she think she was cutting him open like that? Harry thought angrily, she obviously inherited Voldemort's love for the dark arts, with the hexes she sent at him. Though as annoyed and angry as she had made him, Harry could almost understand Dumbledore's reasons for their meetings, though sick Ariadne could fight her way quite well in a duel…the power behind her spells were so great…blocking them was useless!!!  
  
Harry still deep in thought, wondering how someone so beautiful could have such bitter horrible personality, didn't even realize he had made it inside the Gryffindor Common room, not until he heard a scream, and Hermione's voice "Oh my gosh, Harry what happened???" And he looked down to realize his shirt was still drenched in dark red blood. 


	10. Sad Sick Drooling Dog

Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
  
A/N: Thank for all the reviews…and I'm glad you like Ariadne! ^_^ In this chapter you'll read about quite a few people mentioned in HP…hope you like em the way I see em!!!   
  
Harry had just got out of shower, feeling as though every single muscle in his body ached…he had another dueling session with Ariadne last night. Harry felt a strong sense of anger towards her, and annoyance too…but at the same time, he craved for a chance to finally be able to show her off. He had learned the hard way that those honey like eyes were no sweeter than lemon juice, Ariadne hadn't been any more lenient last night, in fact this time she had cut him even deeper and sizzled large red burning boils all over his skin.  
  
Harry groaned softly, trying not too move too much as he sat on his bed trying put on a pair of socks. He suddenly heard loud voices, but looking over he saw that Sirius and James were still in bed, slowly trying to sit up. He saw Sirius looking around all excited, wondering out loud about where the party was, but the second he threw his covers off, a tall boy clad in a pair of red and black boxers, ran across the room and jumped on him.  
  
Startled Harry looked up to see another even taller boy come dashing through the door…though he only aimed for the bed, with his jump. Blinking a few times to make sure he was seeing right, Harry realized the boy on James' bed was a younger version of Kingsley Shacklebolt, wearing only a pair of gray pants and laughing along with the other boy.   
  
  
  
"It's FRIDAY, man! What the fuck are you doing in bed???" said the other boy cheerfully, his arm around Sirius' neck, who was playfully punching him in the sides.  
  
  
  
Harry had the oddest feeling he had seen the boy somewhere…and suddenly it hit him…the picture Moody had shown him last year. It was a long time ago, but this guy's face was really hard to forget, as his eyes were more yellow than they were green…there was something almost reptilian about them…his short black hair was spiked and it's ends were blood red, his lips full and so red you'd think he'd been drinking raspberry juice, his cheekbones so high it gave him a rather mysterious air, and a various of heavy looking earrings pierced his right ear.  
  
"What the fuck are you doing in my room?" Sirius said laughing, clearly enjoying being woken up to have loud crazy company.  
  
"Waking you up, bitch! You're such a miserable piece of shit, you know that Siri? you can't even get your fat ass out of bed the day we're FINALLY gonna beat the shit out of the Slytherins!" he said tackling Sirius down the both of them laughing.  
  
"You're the ugly cunt that makes me get my fat ass out of bed!!!"  
  
Seeing Harry and Ron's startled looks, James and Kingsley laughed, and motioned for the two to join them on James' bed. Then James turned to them grinning.  
  
"This is Kingsley Shacklebolt, one of the best chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team…and that crazy boy over there," he pointed to Sirius' bed where the two boys were still wrestling and laughing around, "he is Gideon Prewtt, he is on the team too…beaters with Sirius, I'm thinking they've got hit in the head too many times by bludgers."  
  
"That'd explain the behavior," said Ron shrugging, having no idea who Gideon was, Harry though stared at him in aw, knowing him and his brother would take 5 death eaters to the grave with them.   
  
"Uh Harry, madness isn't exactly cool," Kingsley gave him an odd look, while James howled with laughter.  
  
Suddenly three other people appeared in their room, not much quieter than the last two. The first one, a smaller framed boy, with longish straight blond hair that fell into his eyes, round bright green laughing eyes, dressed in purple boxers gave a loud happy howl before jumping on top of both Sirius and Gideon. Next was another blond boy, though his longish silvery hair was rather curly and flyaway, his eyes a warm shade of blue, his lips big pouty and pink, with a dimple right above his sharp cheekbones. He laughed at the tangled trio and made his way to James' bed, high fiveing everyone, before lying down next to James his very muscular arms under his head.  
  
Last boy unlike the rest had on a shirt, a tight black T-shirt with his navy blue boxers. His shiny black hair lay messy above his head making his silvery blue eyes stand out, a long thin scar ran down his high cheekbone to his strong jaw, and a heavy silver chain disappeared underneath his shirt. Unlike the others, he didn't make his way towards one of the two middle beds, instead he just stood there with his arms crossed, leaning calmly against the wall. There was just something about him that made it hard for Harry to take his eyes away, who noticed the same was true for Ron as well…though again he had no idea who the boy was.  
  
Excited Harry realized his suspicions were right, as James again introduced each boy, Sturgis Podmore, Benjy Fenwick, and Caradoc Dearborn were no doubt all future members of the Order.   
  
"No first period today?" Remus entered the common room, munching on a large marmalade sandwich, making the rest of the boys drool, but he refused to give anyone a bite, no matter how much they begged.  
  
"Damn you Lupin…" Sturgis complained, rubbing his flat stomach, "urgh, that looks soooooooooo good!"  
  
"It is!" Remus said pretending to moan out of pleasure, and got punched by Sirius, who desperately tried to steal it away.  
  
"Ok, guys, what's the plan for today," James spoke up, and all attempts for stealing the sandwich were abundant, as the whole lot of them cheered out loud, soon joined by the FINALLY awake Peter.  
  
"I say we just skip the whole day, take a swim in the lake, get pumped up for the fight tonight!" Gideon suggested, high fiving Sirius who obviously agreed.   
  
"Yeah? And what the hell is McGonagall gonna say when she sees half her Gryffindor 6th and 7th years missed every single class today???" Sturgis challenged, crashing into Peter, as he attempted to get away from Gideon's fist aimed at him.  
  
"Who gives a shit! It's not like she'll kill us for skipping one measly stinkin' day!" Sirius retorted shrugging, as he retrieved out a big box of chocolate frogs from under his bed, throwing a few at everyone, "most she'll give us is a detention…I say it's worth it to skip!"  
  
"Yeah!" Gideon howled stuffing a whole bunch of frogs in his mouth.  
  
"but if we go to class we can taunt the Slytherins every time we pass them in the halls, and in the Great Hall!" Remus pointed out, a few looked around thoughtfully about this, but Benjy shook his head.  
  
"We'll taunt them way worst if we're totally gone, then they'll be wondering all day long what the bloody hell we have planned for them!"  
  
"Good point Benj, and we could have lunch and dinner at Hogsmead!" James suggested, exchanging grins with Benjy, "that way we'll be gone all day long…they're gonna freak so bad!!!"  
  
"Or they'll just think we've chickened out," Kingsley pointed out, and ducked just in time as a flying chocolate frog came his way.  
  
"No way! Everyone knows that we Gryffindors are the brave guys, they know we'll never back down…even if they boast to everyone about it, no one will believe them, specially not themselves!!!" Caradoc spoke for the first time his right eyebrow slightly raised, there was something about his voice that made all your doubts disappear.  
  
"Fine lets say you're right, but what if Dumbledore comes looking for us himself in Hogsmead???" Peter objected fearfully, causing Sirius to send a second flying chocolate frog, though since he wasn't very quick, this one managed to hit it's target right in the forehead. Frowning Peter picked the frog up and threw it right back at Sirius, who easily grabbed it grinning.  
  
  
  
"Thanks man," he stuffed it in his already full mouth.  
  
"He won't." Caradoc said simply, and incredibly enough no one objected.  
  
"Then can we come too?" asked a slightly higher voice, making everyone turn around.  
  
There at the doorway stood two younger looking boys, and again both looked very familiar to Harry. The first one's eyes were the exact duplicate of Gideon's, though his hair was blond with an unusual tint of violet and his face was a bit thinner. The second boy had straw colored hair, which fell onto his pale bony face…a face Harry had seen, not in a photograph, but in real life…Barty Crouch!   
  
"Hey bro," Gideon called out cheerfully, "how come your up so early?"  
  
"You know." The second brother answered with a small smile.  
  
"No I don't, I told you Fabs, you are NOT involved in this fight! I mean honestly, they haven't thought you enough yet to fight!" Gideon now got off the bed, and grabbed the younger boy by the shoulders, "listen, when YOU become a seventh year, than you're allowed to duel whoever you want…but until then, you're not ready!"  
  
"I'm a fifth year…only a year younger than these guys," he pointed his finger at Harry and the others furiously, and turned to glare at his brother, "I don't care what you say Gideon…the Slytherins challenged all of Gryffindor, and that includes me!!! You can't stop me from fighting!"  
  
"Fabian…" Gideon groaned, "listen you don't KNOW enough to fight!!!"  
  
"and you do? Aren't I your dueling partner? Don't you and dad always say I have real talent?"  
  
"Faby…kid you do have talent, but for someone your age! Besides, I always go easy on you, you're my lil bro after all…but they wont!" Fabian tried to open his mouth to protest, but grinning Gideon continued, "and listen, I need you to keep safe just so you can avenge my death!"   
  
"GIDEON!!!! I don't fucking care if you try to kill me yourself to stop me, because I'm going to duel and that's the end of it!" and with that Fabian shoved his older brother away and storming out the room, followed by Barty.  
  
"Damn!" Gideon swore for a few minutes, before jumping back on Sirius' bed.  
  
"Let the kid fight, he is pretty good," Benjy got up slightly, so that he was now sitting.  
  
"But the Slytherins fight dirty! Dad'll kill me if I let him get hurt!!!" Gideon answered, looking to be in a bad mood.  
  
"He won't, we'll all keep watch for you're little bro," Sirius slapped him on the back, and Gideon turned to look at him with an odd look.  
  
"We'll stay away from you're bro…if you want."  
  
"NO!" Sirius hisses through clenched teeth, "kill his fucking ass for all I care…he doesn't concern me!!!"  
  
  
  
For a few seconds no one spoke a word, but then James seemed to have grown tired of the silence, since he jumped off his bed, looking a little over excited.  
  
"Sirius already has a brother, me, 'cept he is the little one," James grinned and ducked just in time as a flying chocolate frog came his way, "besides, I'm more brilliant than a million other brothers…let's go to Zonkos!" When everyone looked at him blankly James shook his head grinning, "I'll explain on the way…but we have a LOT to do today!!!"  
  
***   
  
"Sup Bella?"   
  
Bellatrix Black opened her eyes only to Rudolphus Lestranges standing over her. She smiled slyly seeing as his button down shirt was half open, giving her a nice preview of his heavenly chest.  
  
"What do you want Rudolphus?" she said coolly, no boy was going to make her go all mushy…  
  
"You already know," he smirked, and dropped himself on to the couch beside Bellatrix's, though instead of turning to her he opened up a small book.  
  
  
  
Trying to resist the urge of asking him what it was, without embarrassing herself, Bellatrix turned towards the door to the outside, just when it swung open. In came two boys Maliciber and the other Lestranges brother, the two toughest Slytherin boys by reputation…and already death eaters by rumors.   
  
  
  
"Well, well, Black…we were just talking about you," said Rebastian Lestranges, walking up to Bellatrix, who didn't so much as blink.  
  
Bellatrix knew that she was one of the very few girls that Maliciber and the Lestranges brothers had any respect for, and being a Black helped a lot, as they were a very ancient pureblood family.  
  
Matching Maliciber's smirk, she sized the two boys up, whose looks to her were the most deceiving thing in the world. Maliciber had sandy colored hair, reassuring baby blues, pouty pink lips, and a dark golden tan unusual for a Hogwarts student. He looked like the models she saw in her old Teen Witch magazines, as though he was an all American warlock, the smart sweet boy all the witches want as a boyfriend! Knowing Maliciber for so long, Bella knew he was anything but that!!! Roberto Maliciber would rather die than be the least bit sweet to anyone, he lived on bitterness and enjoyed the sight of others in pain. Though extremely arrogant, he didn't pay the least bit attention to girls, Bella had heard that he liked nothing less that the professionals.   
  
Then there was Rebastian who unlike his younger brother was rather skinny, and a bit shorter and not nearly as handsome…yet more popular with the girls. Rebastian was rumored to have slept with almost all the girls in Slytherin, even the younger ones! While he couldn't be described as handsome, there was something attractive about his dark eyes, sharp crooked nose and wild curly dark brown hair…or maybe it was his aura. It was as though something surrounded Rebastian, he was rather innocent looking…but those who knew him would know that Rebastian was probably the most dangerous of them all. Though incredibly attracted to him herself, Bella sometimes wonder if Rebastian was insane and totally out of control.  
  
"And you were saying?" Bella crossed her legs, trying to look like as though she couldn't care less, but there was no fooling Rebastian, who smiled dangerously.  
  
"It doesn't matter now," he said turning away from her and looking around at the other Slytherins, his eyes hard as rocks, "just make sure the Gryffindor disappearance doesn't freak out any of the younger kids…we need to teach the mudbloods and muggle lovers a nice big lesson about pain." Bella only nodded, like always astonished at how casual Rebastian's voice could sound, no matter what he talked about.  
  
"I will," Bella said, though she hated taking orders from anyone…but her heart belonged to Rebastian, and no matter how much she detested this fact for how weak it made her to him, she could do nothing to change it.  
  
"Good," Maliciber answered, as Rebastian had already made his way up the stairs, without even waiting for her answer.  
  
"Right," Bella muttered to herself, as Maliciber too had left, and didn't notice Rudolphus' eyes on her.  
  
"My brother doesn't give a crap about you," came his soft hissing voice, making Bella's eyes snap in his direction.  
  
"And am I suppose to care?" Bella glared at him, but he only smiled.  
  
"I can see right through you, anyone can…you're like a dog, drooling after him. You actually think he even thinks about you as a person? You're lucky you're not as pathetic as all the other girls, if you'd fucked him, he probably wouldn't even care to talk to you!" Rudolphus now began to laugh, the coldness of it sent a small shiver up Bella's spine.  
  
"SHUT UP!" she half shouted, and instantly regret it, as the triumphant look on Rudolphus' face told her he now knew he'd touched a nerve.   
  
"And let me guess, the little fight plans you made with Evans weren't so much revenge on your cousin and Potter, as they were a way to get Rebastian's attention?" however Rudolphus' smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of utter disgust, "it's so sad to see someone with so much, just turn so pathetic and sickly over a silly little crush!"  
  
"I…I…" Bella's face burned red, both from anger and shame, how dare he talk to her like that, when he was only a 6th year?!!  
  
"And here I used to consider you date worthy, when you are nothing but a childish little girl drooling after someone who doesn't even know you exist!!!" and with that Rudolphus got up and left, a sneer painted on his face.  
  
"That son-of-a-bitch!!!" Bella hissed after him, but then a thought crossed her mind…Rebastian never really did notice her, not that way anyways….but Rudolphus obviously had!!! 


	11. Simple Like It Once Was

Disclaimer: I own nuttin…yee hawww  
  
A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews, you guyz are REAL GREAT! ^_^ and wolverinas-moon don't give up hope yet…don't be too sure about what's gonna happen with Ariadne…it might not be what you think! I'm glad to know you guys like the Order guys…since I'm a total crazy hp lunatic I actually drew all of em including the Slytherin boys…they kinda look hot X_X! lol! Anyway hope you guys like this chapter!!!   
  
Hermione shivered slightly, the night was a bit chilly, but to her that was nothing to standing there with a whole lot of other Gryffindors waiting for the Slytherins to get there. From long ago they had all learned that the Slytherins didn't really give a shit about rules and fair play…who wouldn't be scared?  
  
Hermione half expected to be showered on hexes sent by hiding Slytherins from all around, but almost as though her breath had gotten caught in her lungs, she saw a large crowd of people drawing closer towards them. Her eyes desperately moved around searching their faces in the dark, and found that to be a mistake as it sent more chills up her spine.  
  
The first boy that had caught her eye, probably because his great height, was Evan Rosier. His dark roots looked black, while his longish messy blond hair looked almost silvery under the moonlight. She could just see a slightly mad look in his usually astonishing blue eyes, and dreadful calm surrounding him. Walking right beside him was Attila Wilkes, and he too looked strangely cool, his icy silvery eyes showed no sign of fear, and his smooth dark olive skin looked at ease. It was weird but for a moment Hermione found both boys oddly attractive…in a deadly sort of way, her eyes on Rosier hair falling in his eyes, and Wilkes thick muscular arms bared by his cut off sleeves.  
  
Next came the two Lestranges brothers, closely followed by the evil bitch Bellatrix. Feeling as though her breath was caught in her chest she looked to her right to find Ron and Harry, both of whom were giving off an strong aura of pleasure. Hermione felt a bit annoyed at them for having disappeared the whole day without even telling her, in their own time it was always the trio…but now with the Marauders she easy got forgotten!   
  
"So you sissies gonna back down? Or are you ready to get the shit beaten out of you???" Rebastian said, his voice cold enough to send even more chills through Hermione's body, his dark eyes sparkling madly under the night sky.  
  
"Watch who you call a sissy Lestranges, if you're nice we might just go easy on you," James said his voice calm, and Sirius walked forward a large dark smile plastered on his face.  
  
"I won't, the little fags need to be taught a lesson for fucking up Hogwarts with their disgusting filth!" Sirius laughed his bark like laugh, whipping out his wand already.  
  
"Black, you had the chance to become one of us, but you were far too stupid to take it! Now you're gonna learn what it means to deny Slytherin and become a mudblood loving fool! How many of those filthy blooded skanks have you screwed by now? It takes just one to lose your pride and purity of a true wizard…" Rebastian moved forward as well, though there was no sight of a smile on his emotionless face.  
  
"You're gonna be sorry you dared to fucking say that, you fucking piece of shit, lousy faget cunt—"  
  
"Sirius!" James cut him off, quickly holding Sirius back to stop him from jumping the other boy, "you'll get your chance soon enough!"  
  
Sirius didn't say anything, though he gave James a small nod. Hermione watched him fearfully for a few seconds, hoping his relation with the Slytherins wasn't going to bite him in the ass. Sirius didn't look as angry as she had thought he would, instead his eyes were sparkling with excitement, and a large grin was stretched across his handsome face…and James was wearing much of the same expression. It seemed if anything, both boys were having a blast…and that's when she understood Sirius' glumness throughout the last year, her heart aching horribly.  
  
***  
  
Sirius exchanged grins with James, it was rather weird to be here, as long ago when they were all children most of them were playmates. Sirius' eyes lingered on Rosier and Wilkes standing next to each other, looking across at them in pure hatred, though once they were both his childhood friends. For a short minute Sirius felt his mind wonder deep into memory land, his heart longing for everything to be simple like it once was…  
  
Sirius and James had been friends for as long as he could remember, as their families were rather close though very different. Sirius knew from long ago that the only reason his father always kept close to the Potters was that they owned the largest selling newspaper in all of Britain, and Mr. Black thought his advertisements deserved the best of the best newspapers! There was also the fact that Potters like the Blacks were one of the very few eldest and wealthiest wizard families there ever was, and that alone gave them a high amount of stature!   
  
It was amazing to Sirius to be looking to his right and seeing someone he had trusted so much still be their, on his side, fighting along side of him…even though so much had changed. Sirius remembered how it was when he and James would go to young wizard playgrounds and amusement parks with their mothers, where they played with other wizarding children like Rosier, Wilkes, Avery, even sometimes the Lestranges, but also the Prewett brothers…back then they were all friends, sure they fought, but it was never anything too serious…not like now!  
  
Sirius smiled slightly, knowing that he was very lucky to have James here with him, the only person he had been able to relay on all his life…the only person who hadn't let his trust down. Feeling his smile disappear, Sirius inhaled deeply, turning to James and patted his best friend on the back.  
  
"Your right James," Sirius felt his grin slowly reappearing at the dumbfounded look on James' face.  
  
"Like always," James now grinned back, patted him right back.  
  
"You're my real brother," Sirius looked down blushing a bit, "and you're worth a million others!"  
  
"Wow!" James said, both his eyebrows raised high, "did I sound that cheesy too?"  
  
"Yeah," Sirius answer truthfully, and got punched in the arm, "hey I was just being honest…brother!!!"  
  
"But remember I'm the older one!" James said and this time he was the one who got punched.  
  
"Only by a measly month!" Sirius argued.  
  
"Fine! We're twins then!"  
  
"We do kinda look alike…"  
  
"YOU WISH! Ha, no matter how much Magic Hair Stick Glue you use Padfoot, you're hair'll never look as kool as mine!"  
  
"Right! I forgot you're our resident airhead, Prongsi!"  
  
"You bet cha! Like a true Quidditch hero, good looks and no brains!"  
  
"I wouldn't go so far about the looks!"  
  
"Will you two lover boys just SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Gideon grinned in there direction, "We already know you're sleeping together, you got nothing to prove!"  
  
"Thanks for noticing Prewett!" Sirius called out, leaning over to kiss James' cheek, who moved back so far he tripped and fell to the ground, making everyone including Slytherins to laugh, "Jamesie finds the floor much more comfortable!" Sirius joked, offering James his hand.  
  
"Will you little jokers just get on with it, unlike you, we Slytherins have much more interesting things to do with our time than to stand around and watch you muggle-loving losers yap!" Avery yelled out, looking irritated.  
  
"You mean like painting yourself!" Sirius said, making everyone laugh, as Avery's very messy hair the stood up cartoon style was highlighted green and silver.  
  
"Don't worry, you kids just wait…boy do we have a surprise for you," Gideon said, laughing coldly.  
  
"It's time," Sirius heard Cradock say softly to his right.  
  
Slowly one by one people were starting to notice that something was wrong, some of the younger kids gasped in shock, some let out a low scream, but Sirius felt a large grin spread across his face, and slowly looked up to see the usual black night sky to turn blood red…and suddenly a very loud large thunder storm began, though there was no rain, only strong chilling wind, ripping across at them all.  
  
Quickly Sirius looked around at the shocked frightened Slytherins, who seemed even more so when they saw the older Gryffindor boys standing there smirking. Hardly any wizards had enough magical power to challenge the forces of nature in all of history, maybe 5 or 6, and this fact seem to be really scaring the Slytherins, including some the strongest ones.   
  
A/N: Next chapter is gonna get a lil more dirty…as in fighting I mean! ^_~ Watch out for Ariadne to come out of the hospital soon…which house will she get sorted into? Gryffindor? Slytherin? Ravenclaw? Or…maybe Hufflepuff???? Hee hee…you'll find out soon enough! 


	12. The First Showdown Crashed

Disclaimer: If I owned HP I'd choose the HOTTEST actors I could find to play Sirius, Remus and the dead James!!! Since I don't we're stuck with Gary Oldman who DOESN'T look the part!!!!!! (no offense to Oldman lovers…I just can't see him playing the 30 years old Padfoot when he is like 49!) but even worst is the guy playing Remus…T_T…in case you're wondering I just saw HP movie #3 pics….ARGH! That's all I can say…so obviously I don't own Harry Potter!!!  
  
A/N: THANKS SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FOR YOUR AWSOME SUPER GREAT REVIEWS! ^_^ I'm just glad you guys like this fic…but I must admit to my little boo boo! See I spelled the older Lestranges brother wrong, it's gonna be spelled like this from now on "Rabastan"! Please don't shoot me x_x! By the way Sirius' Sweetie Gideon is in HP5, he is one of the guy in the original OotP pic, n he was mentioned (kinda) in book 1, Oooh and blue oyster cult cool bet….but who knows…hee hee! Thanks again all of you…^_^ gotta luv da reviews!  
  
"You're fucking brilliant Padfoot," James said quietly, and Sirius who stood beside him smirked.  
  
"I know!"   
  
While shocked at first, the younger Gryffindors were now beginning to notice the older boy's smirks, which seemed to put them at ease at least. The Slytherins were on the other hand terrified, they who were the purest bloods understood much better of the intensity of the power needed to fight against the forces of nature…and the very few list of wizards strong enough to do so in all of history. They also knew that Godric Gryffindor had been one of them…   
  
"No use waiting now," Sirius muttered and James looking at him side ways nodded.  
  
"NOW!" James shouted, and within seconds all Gryffindor wands were out and ready, and attacked at once, sending bright colorful light rays flying in all directions.   
  
The Slytherins frozen in shock/fear just stared blankly as spells hit a whole lotta of them, though a few seem to break outa the trance and dodge away, just in time. The Gryffindors had gotten most of the Slytherins down, but the survivors wouldn't easily give up. Rabastan had managed to get at least 3 Gryffindore's down in less then a minute, and the rest weren't any worst. Rosier was very speedy and trying to get him was just about the hardest thing James had ever tried, much worst than the snitch, and Wilkes had the fastest arm Hermione had seen, even after all the DA trainings she had absolutely no chance against him, and got stricken by a rather strong rash hex, so much so that the horrible itch on her arms had let to releasing her wand and dropping to the ground so she could wiggle around to scratch her whole body on the freshly cut grass.  
  
This is bad, Sirius though grimly, he had just won out on his one on one with Avery after more than 10 minutes, and things weren't looking too bright for the Gryffindors, even for the head start, which now vanished into the black sky revealing it's fakeness. And while most of the Gryffindors were rather skilled and strongly magical, many of them had never been in a single real duel. The Slytherins on the other hand had all been well thought how to fight by their fathers, it was all pureblood families' tradition…and knew terrible dark curses that would nock most out in seconds. But we can't back down, not now…Sirius thought, I'll just have to make up for it all with my techniques!!!  
  
"James, I need you're help!" Sirius yelled out to James, dodging a golden curse headed towards him, and a second later James was by his side, grinning from ear to ear, as though they as though he had no idea things were looking bad for the.  
  
"Sup mate?" he asked, the two of them now dodging a couple of curses, thank god for their years of playing Quidditch.  
  
"We can save a whole lotta time attacking if we go two to one to the Slytherins…know what I mean, Prongs?" Sirius said quickly, and grinned at the sight of James' nod, "great, go back where you were…attack at three!"  
  
  
  
Years ago as kids, Sirius and James had came up with all these different dueling strategies, that incredibly enough became rather useful years later. One of them was attacking the target at the same time from opposite sides, using their favorite Weird Sister's song beats. Sirius was sure James was still grinning, and so was he, even if they did end up losing, they still knew they had a great time fighting, and that's what really mattered!!! On the other hand however Sirius knew he was gonna win, and that only made him stronger, and let his cool down so he could think.  
  
Sending up red sparks as a warning to James, Sirius began to count beats, and sent out a gravity defying charm (to lose balance) towards the younger of the Lestranges brothers, but Rudolphus blocked it, which kept him too busy to even notice James' curse witch hit his right shoulder.  
  
  
  
***  
  
More than half an hour passed since the fight had started, and now only a very few number of people stood, still each and every one of them fighting the other house very aggressively. James, Sirius, Gideon, Caradoc, Benjy, and Harry stood alone for the Gryffindors, and Rabastan, Maliciber, Rosier, Wilkes, Snape, and a rather beautiful girl Harry hadn't met yet, still fought for the Slytherins.   
  
  
  
A very suspicious looking red light passed Harry by only about an inch, and by the way it made his hair stand at ends, Harry was almost positive it was the Cruciatus curse! This is getting darker by the second, he thought, as he had just so recently fought the other unforgettable curse, the Imperious! To his right Sirius fought still very hard, even though his bit of overconfidence had got him hit by a curse sent from Wilkes, and now his shirt glistered with blood under the moonlight. Trying his best not to look at his godfather, as dreadful memories of the ministry of magic flashed through his eyes every time he did so, Harry blasted his own curses…and was too busy to notice anything until a booming voice knocked him off his feet.  
  
  
  
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE ALL DOING???"  
  
Bewildered Harry turned around to see an angry mob of teachers, each pointing their wands at them all threatfully, amongst which stood McGonagal who looked positively murderous!!! 


	13. Taunting Past

Disclaimer: own nuttin, none of the HP characters…….just the ones I made up!!!!  
  
A/N: You guyz are the best, thanx for liking this fic and thanx for your super reviews!!!! I'm really sorry I took a while with this chapter……school is really getting in the way these days, there was also Halloween (the BEST holiday there is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and there is no way you can miss trick or treating and all the partieeeeez!!!! Anyway here it is……hope you like it!  
  
"I still can't believe we didn't get expelled!" Remus said yawning, for what seemed the hundredth time that week, "Not even any detentions!"  
  
  
  
A week had passed since the fight, and incredibly enough all 6 boys were still alive. It seemed like McGonagall couldn't punish half of Hogwarts with detentions and expulsions…but she could take away any chance Gryffindor and Slytherin had from winning the house cup. As Harry had learned, this wasn't too big a deal for the Gryffindors…but the Slytherins were another story, as they had won all house cups for the past 7 years.  
  
"Well we lost ALL our house points, and so did the Slytherins," Ron pointed out, but the Marauders just grinned at him.  
  
"We NEVER win the house cup, not with all the points we lose for our pranks," James explained, "I guess McGonagall just couldn't find enough stuff to make us all do for detentions!"  
  
"I say we're all just fucking lucky!!!" Sirius said before glaring darkly at a girl who quickly passed them as she walked away from the Great Hall, her long hair flying behind her.  
  
"Hey Sirius, who is that girl?" Harry asked, seeing the dark expression on his face.  
  
"She is a Slytherin," James pointed out unnecessarily, making Sirius snap out of his little trance and grin.  
  
"Dorcas Meadows, her mommy and my daddy are pretty tight! I know she is HOT, but don't get any ideas kid! She is a MAJOR-SLYTHRIN-PUREBLOOD-LOVING-BITCH if I've ever seen one!" Sirius said, "what gives anyway?"  
  
"Wasn't she the only Slytherin girl left standing at the fight?" Harry asked, trying to stop himself from sounding impressed.  
  
"She isn't too shabby with spells, but really cruel…didn't you see the curse she hit that Crouch boy with?" Sirius opened a pack of Droobles Best Drooping Gum, turning to Harry.  
  
"Yeah, she is evil!" Harry said more to himself than to anyone else.  
  
"Now that's a know fact," James grinned throwing an arm around Harry, "whatever you do, don't ever get mixed up with the Slytherin girls…they may look good at first, but after you see the real them they're pretty ugly!!!"  
  
"Only to you James, the rest of us set our bars much higher than big boobs!" Remus laughed, along with all the other boys…though Harry's sounded a bit fake.  
  
"Let's not talk about the Slytherins so early in the morning k? It's making me nauseas—" Sirius said as they stepped into the Great Hall, and stopped abruptly, causing both Harry and James to crash right into him.   
  
"What's the matter Pads?" James asked rubbing his shoulder which had slammed right into Harry's neck.  
  
"If you freaks hadn't just half knocked me out I'd have thought I'm dreamin'!" Sirius said slightly breathless, "What's a babe like that doing in OUR school?"  
  
"What the hell?" James asked jumping on top of Sirius to see what was going on, "You're fucking right mate…she is bloody HOT!"  
  
"It's probably some girl who just started putting on make-up or something," Remus sniggered as he walked past the two boys, "get a hold of yourselves you two, you look like pathetic drooling—WAOH!"   
  
  
  
Harry and Ron shared amused looks; by the looks of it Remus too was left breathless, and squeezed their way into the Great Hall as well to see what was going on. Suddenly Harry felt his stomach clench horribly, there standing next to a sorting hat was professor McGonagall…and Ariadne! By the unusual lowness of the volume, it was obvious all eyes lay on the new girl…the beautiful new girl. As much as Harry hated to admit this, it was still true, Ariadne had obviously recovered quite well…Harry on the other hand wasn't so sure about his own wounds, the ones she had made.  
  
Harry and the others made their way to the Gryffindor table, though like everyone else their eyes were locked onto Ariadne, whose long silky black hair fell exotically around her, her long slender body wrapped in beautiful tight satin black robes…showing off her killer curves. Harry too would have been totally mesmerized by her, but he had learned the hard way not to take her for how she looked, underneath all that beauty an evil self-centered bitch lived, one Harry looked forward to beating in a fair duel soon.  
  
The silence continued as Ariadne sat herself down on the stool, and for a millisecond met Harry's eyes, and with one last smirk thrown in his direction her head disappeared…for a long time. Harry had no idea where that girl would end up, but he knew that he wouldn't be surprised if it was Slytherin…but he was wrong! Harry was indeed surprise when the hat screamed out Slytherin, he had assumed that Dumbledore had more sense than to bring another serpent clad amongst them. Angrily he watched Ariadne's beautiful form half glide towards the Slytherin table.   
  
***  
  
"Beauty and brains," Avery whistled as Ariadne reached their table.  
  
Ariadne smiled, sitting herself between him and Snape. The Slytherins had given her some kind of an welcome, mostly for her beauty no doubt, she hadn't yet made their friend list as her blood purity remained a mystery, and it was no surprise when Rosier brought it up, only a second after Ariadne had settled down.  
  
"So what's you're name," while his voice was casual, Rosier's almond shaped eyes shown with distrust.   
  
"My name? It's Ariadne," she said, knowing very well what he had meant by his question. Usually she wouldn't give a damn about what he or anyone thought, but she sensed she needed the Slytherins on her side and she had no choice but to win them over, "of the Dolohovs. I'm sure you've heard of us, we're rather known."  
  
"A Russian? What are you doing all the way in Hogwarts, did Drumstrang run out of spaces or something?" Snape smirked.  
  
"No," Ariadne said simply, she didn't wish to give more info than required to earn her fellow housemates' trust.  
  
"Then what are you doing here?" Rosier asked, his expression making it clear that she had no choice but to answer it.  
  
"Bad business. Dombledore maybe a muggle loving fool…but he can keep me from getting involved!" Ariadne naturally lied easily…but this time the truth wasn't too far away.  
  
"Is he you're father or uncle?" Wilkes now spoke for the first time, his voice rather soft, but Ariadne understood exactly what he had meant by that question, and she was sure she would have used a much more serious tone to talk about such things, such as death eater identities.  
  
"Now why would I tell you such thing," Ariadne smiled innocently, knowing very well she had just passed their little mind test.  
  
"You shouldn't," Rosier smiled briefly before turning to his pancakes.  
  
  
  
Walking out of the Great Hall with a bunch of Slytherins who only too happy to show her the way to class, Ariadne smirked, they'd all probably line up to lick her feet if only they knew of her father. She had always had a certain way with people, some kind of deceptive charm that attracted them all towards her. Ariadne was sure this had surely come from her father side of the family, as her mother was the most self-centered snobby annoying nosey person alive, and everyone knew it, specially her step father who only married her for her money. Ariadne didn't know what made her father even consider getting in bed with such a horrible woman….but deep in her heart, she wondered how it was possible for her mother, terrible and all herself, to love someone so evil and terrible…and that made her sad.  
  
Ariadne never loved her mother much, she never saw her and even when she did only unpleasant memories lingered….but the thought of her brutally slaughtered by her father's men made her horribly nauseas. She knew that there would never be anyone she hated more than her father…though sometimes, she desperately wanted to believe that there was some sort of justification to what he had done….all that he had done! Dumbledore had told her that there wasn't, but being stubborn as she was, a small part of Ariadne wasn't ready to give up hope.  
  
As they stepped out of the Great Hall, Ariadne caught a glimpse of Harry, a tiny bit of something washed through her…anger! No matter how harsh and powerful her hexes were that boy ALWAYS found a way out….she was starting to think he wasn't human at all!!! It seemed as thought the other Slytherins had seen him as well as the other Gryffindors he was with, cause at that second Wilkes, Avery, Rosier, and Snape had all whipped out their wands, as though ready for action. Ariadne wasn't so sure what this was about, so she didn't so much as touch hers, if there was one thing she didn't like, it was getting mixed up in something she really wasn't involved in.  
  
The Gryffindors didn't seem too shabby either to Ariadne, the 5 boys standing with Harry looked as ready as possible, as each of their wands remained in their hands! The tallest boy of them all caught her eye, his dark hair falling into his dark eyes, his lips pink and pouty….he was absolutely gorgeous! While Ariadne tried to contain her breathlessness, Sirius hardly even noticed anyone staring at him. He stared at the Slytherin boys in absolute hatred, his mind running through hexes to shower upon them.   
  
"This fight hasn't ended, not by a long shot," Rosier said coldly, and the Gryffindors all smiled grimly.  
  
"What the fuck did you think? We're never gonna give up till we get filth like you crawling out of here like the most miserable piece of vermin alive!" Sirius spat out, looking much angrier than he actually felt.  
  
"We'll see about that, but in the mean time, watch you're backs…and don't be surprised if things don't always run so smoothly!" Rosier laughed, but stopped instantly at the arrival of Dumbledore at the scene.  
  
"Is something wrong Mr. Rosier? Mr. Black?" he asked in a soft unsuspecting voice, and for a second Ariadne felt his eyes meet hers.  
  
"No sir," both boys said at once, rather quickly.  
  
"Than I suggest you get moving, the other students would all like to get to class on time," he said kindly, and swiftly left.  
  
With one last glare both the Gryffindors and Slytherins left in different directions. Ariadne didn't know what to think, Harry hadn't told her about some kind of an all out battle going on or anything, so she quickly grabbed Avery's shoulder, and asked him what the hell was going on.  
  
"This year is all about Slytherin vs. Gryffindor, we tried to battle it all out a week ago, but the teachers showed up…" Avery explained.  
  
"Were gonna give those lil bitches hell, till they start wishin we'd done them in, in that little match," Snape said harshly.  
  
Ariadne wasn't sure what to say, quite frankly she was astounded that any kind of war was going on inside of DUMBLEDORE'S school! It just didn't seem right….hadn't he brought here to be all safe from the big bad world….wasn't this place supposed to be safe for all???? For a second Ariadne felt like bursting into tears and running away, but bit her bottom lip instead and watched her feet move forward. She hated how week she was to emotions at times, they would just come crashing through her all of a sudden, make her feel horribly depressed…but then they'd pass and she'd land strongly on her feet once again.  
  
She had been stupid to think she'd get a peaceful break once in a while…oh well, she thought, this'll all make me stronger I suppose, like all the other shit in my life! On the bright side, an even longer more serious non-practice match with Harry did sound rather appealing to Ariadne.  
  
***  
  
  
  
Sirius was for once actually excited as he entered his last double period class on a Friday. No DADA classes had gone on last week, or this week for that matter, but Dumbledore had told all who had DADA today to go to class, as their teacher had arrived over night the night before. Sirius hadn't managed to talk to anyone who had, had DADA today so far, and he was just going to have to find out about her by himself.  
  
Grinning from ear to ear, thinking of ways to bring chaos to the newbies first class with him, Sirius made his way to the back of the class. For a while the whole class chattered happily, until the door was thrown open swiftly, and entered a tall beautiful woman clad in what looked like a mix of dark green silk and black fishnets for her tight sexy robes. He was just about to start admiring her sex appeal, when she turned and faced her students, causing Sirius' jaw to hit the floor.  
  
Sirius couldn't believe what he was seeing, but there she was…her long thick shiny silvery locks fell nearly to her waist, her large wild shaped eyes shone in a poisonous green color, her skin pale and shimmery as though the moon shone above, and that shapely dark red smile…right ahead stood a member of the family he despised Nearly as much as his own!   
  
He hadn't seen her for so long, but her wildly beauty hadn't faded from Sirius' memory. Last he had heard of her was that she was traveling to Sweden with the Weird Sisters, though she was planning to leave them and go solo! He had heard her mother brag about it in the summer…before he had runaway.  
  
"My name is Anika Meadows, and as you might have guessed I'm your DADA teacher," about half of the class had obviously recognized her the second she had come into the class, and those who didn't looked up in surprise now knowing of the famous ex-Weird Sister lead singer, with the exception of a few, "as I'm new to you're school some of you will think that it's a free pass to misbehave and make trouble, but I must warn you not to cross me! Try if you will, then you'll see the consequences…however for those of you who are here to learn, I have a fun active highly important year planned!"  
  
"What are you doing here?" Sirius asked out loud, he hadn't heard a single word coming out of her mouth, the sight of her had been too much of a shock.  
  
"I thought by introducing myself as your DADA teacher I already gave that away," she said starting to smile as she looked around for the speaker, and her smile froze as their eyes met. For a few seconds she just stared at him in surprise, but then her smile grew much larger, "who knew, a Black in Gryffindor!"  
  
"And a Meadow teaching at Dumbledore's school!" Sirius snapped back, glaring at her, not so much for what she had said, but mostly for the fact that she was a Meadow, "you couldn't get a job at daddy's Witch Strip???"  
  
"Hey at least my daddy wants to keep me around, unlike others of course," Anika glared at him coldly, but as her eyes met with Sirius' hurt ones….her anger melted, and she bit her lip looking as though she wanted to take back what she had just said. Trying not to lose her cool again, Anika said in a much quieter voice this time, "If you can't behave Black, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave! Can YOU behave?"  
  
Sirius decided not to answer her, which was very rude, but he didn't really care. He just hated the fact that even after running away, a part of his family was still connected to him, even if he hadn't seen her since he was a child. Sirius hardly listened as the class went on in fact he spend the whole time trying to make noise by making bubbles with his wand and bursting them, and incredibly enough Anika didn't say anything about this…but as the class gathered up their notes ready to leave she made her way over to him.  
  
"You're gonna have to stay behind Black, we have to talk!" she said looking down on him as he stuffed his books in his bag.  
  
"I don't think so," Sirius said swiftly without bothering to look up, but Anika only laughed, her laughter rather cold, but nothing like the coldhearted ones he was used to. A soft word escaped her lips, so quietly he couldn't make it out, not that he tired too hard anyway.  
  
"Too bad!" she answered as she sat on the desk he and James shared.  
  
"I'm leaving," Sirius said coldly as he tried to get up…but realized his butt was stuck to the chair, and so did James and the others who burst into painful looking laughter and doubled out the classroom door, "did you HAVE to do that?" Sirius asked a bit annoyed…but also impressed.  
  
"No." she answered swiftly and slid a bit back so she could see Sirius' face, "so did Andromeda get to you first or Alfred?"  
  
"What?"   
  
"Well I'm sure you're mother didn't exactly encourage you to go to Gryffindor now did she?" she grinned, and incredibly enough Sirius found himself to do so as well.  
  
"Not exactly. How do you know about Andromeda and Alfred?" Sirius asked, as far as he knew Anika had gone away with the Weird Sisters when he was only about 7, a year before his favorite cousin had become pregnant and announced her wedding plans to a muggle-born Ted Tonks, and WAY before Uncle Alfred had left the family for his gorgeous muggle fiancé…whom he had dumped already…but still renounced the family.   
  
"News travels," she said simply smiling, but then her expression turned cold for a second, "I don't care who you think you are Black, but if you dare to misbehave in MY class, I assure you, you WILL be sorry!"  
  
"That's funny, specially coming out of you!" Sirius laughed harshly, "we all know there all a LOT of things you're family wouldn't consider as misbehavior!"  
  
"Fine! If that's how you're gonna be, then I'll just have to deal with you my way!!!" Anika said sucking her cheeks in, making her face even skinnier…but very sexy at the same time.  
  
"What, have hot fast sex with me?" Sirius sneered at her, but she didn't say anything back, instead she got off the desk her eyebrows slightly raised.  
  
  
  
Sirius held back the temptation of yelling out more stuff at her back, and only about 10 seconds after she had left the room did he realize his bottom was magically glued to his seat.  
  
  
  
A/N: did you all recognize Dorcas Meadows??????? 


	14. The Key to the Past

Disclaimer: I own nuttin…I wish I did though $_$  
  
A/N: Glad to know you guys don't hate the new DADA teacher, as for her and Sirius getting together….I can't say anything yet, and I have a special plan for her which includes her sister (those who recognized Dorcas, would realize that what Sirius said about her was rather peculiar ^_~ and others who need a hint…she's in book5, but she is already dead!), and of course Voldie! The idea for her plot comes from a actual event that happened, by another evil guy like Voldie in history…just hope you guyz wont mind the darkness of it all!!!  
  
Anyhoo, don't worry Acacia Jules, I was never planning on a Ariadne/Sirius pairing…but can you blame her for noticing how gorgeous he is??? I know I can't! Hee hee! Lily Skylo you have a nice grip on what's going on between Anika and our Siri…and Ping*Pong5 the Marauders have to find out sometime about the trio being from the future…but how and when? I kinda have a rough idea….but I think they should have lotz of mindless fun before that!!!! THANX guys for you're reviews, it's good to know how you feel about this fic!   
  
Sirius sighed, he knew what he had to do, there was no way he would waist his Friday night sitting all alone in the DADA room…with his butt stuck to the chair. No, anything was better than that…eventhough he had to walk through the halls in his 'Super Sexy Dueling Witch' boxers! It would all be worth it if he got to party like he always did on Friday nights, he just hoped he wouldn't meet any of the older Slytherins on the way…fighting them without his pants on didn't seem too pleasant, though it was quite hilarious if he really thought about it…  
  
Letting out another sigh, Sirius finally unbuttoned his pants and realizing it would be next to impossible to take them off in his current position, he used his wand to rip them off. He had tried every unsticking hex and spell he could think of (and he knew a lot, from his occupation of being a number1 prankster), but Anika's charm was permanent…but looking down at his now bare legs Sirius smiled. If I'm gonna go through the halls like this I might as well do it right, he thought, now unbuttoning his robes and top. Finally when his boxers were the only thing he had on Sirius grabbed his wand, and thought it was now time for payback!   
  
Kicking the door open Sirius called for his broomstick, which took a while, but finally zoomed it's way to him. Getting on top of it, Sirius flew around looking for other students, he wanted to show himself off in his 'sexay' boxers…but even more than that, he wanted the message written in red paint across his chest, read by as many people as possible. Finally he saw a couple of Ravenclaw 5th years, all of them turned to watch Sirius go by, staring at the writing on his chest with questioning looks.  
  
"Go there on tomorrow's Hogsmead visit!" Sirius called out to them as he slowly flew by, sending them a grin and feeling satisfied to see their blushing faces.  
  
Revenge was sweet, by nighttime the next day, Sirius was gonna use his cursed Black name for use for once! He was gonna make sure everyone knew the dirty secret of the Meadows family, that only a few pureblood families knew! Anika was gonna learn NOT to mess with Sirius ever again, and Dorcas would learn a nice little lesson as well!!!  
  
Seeing Anika approaching across the corner, Sirius quickly tapped his wand on his chest, making the paint disappear, and flew a few circles around her grinning before heading to the other direction, surprised to not hear her yelling threats to his back.  
  
***  
  
  
  
Anika let out a shaky breath before pushing open the empty classroom door, and walked in still rather nervous. It only took a second for her to find the other girl, the one she had sent a note to about meeting her here so late. Anika watched her for a few seconds, the way her beautiful heart shaped face shimmered in the dim candle light, the way her chest rose up and down under her messy black robes, and the soft smile that played on her resting face; before Anika made her way to the other side of the room and woke her up by gently placing her arms on her shoulders and shaking her.  
  
It didn't take to long for the sleeping beauty to wake up, Anika smiled, remembering how her baby sister had always been a light sleeper. For a second Dorcas' wide eyes shone with delight seeing who it was that had woken her, but barely a second later intense amount of hurt spread through her face, and as suddenly as the first two emotions, anger blazed through her very skin. Anika was sure she had never felt so horrible in all her life, but she bit her lip trying to keep her cool and stepped back, giving her sister a small bit of space.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?" Fury dripped from every single syllable out of Dorcas' mouth.  
  
"Dorcas—"  
  
"Don't!!! I only came here just to tell you how much I hate you, I don't need to hear useless apologies pouring out of your mouth!" Dorcas said her voice so cold you could freeze hell over with it….but knowing her little sister so well, Anika could see the pain begging to get out, in her eyes, and smiled sadly herself.  
  
"You know that's a lie, you're here because you love me," Anika said softly, marveling at the incredible effect these simple words had over her sister, the anger had suddenly left Dorcas' face, and now her lips trembled ever so slightly, and her eyes shone with tears, "and I love you! You can't lie to me Cassie, you never could…"  
  
"It doesn't matter," Dorcas said fighting away the tears, and trying to force the anger to come back, "you just went away…and left me behind!"  
  
"I know, and I'm sorry…but you know I had to," Anika could almost feel Dorcas' eyes melting under her gaze and feel the different emotions passing through them, "mom and dad would've killed me if I didn't!"  
  
"But still—" Dorcas began, tears flowing down her cheeks now, but Anika stopped her with a heart-aching hug.  
  
"I miss you too," Anika kissed her wet salty cheek softly, and wiped away her own tears, "I had to leave…I made the choice, but I couldn't do that for you! Can you understand that Cas? I love you, but you had to grow up and make your own choices…I couldn't force mine on you!!!"  
  
"But you never came to visit, all I had were those letters you sent me…I missed you so much, it hurt!" it was as though an iron fist had clenched Anika's heart, as she heard her sister's heartbroken voice and felt her shoulders shake in her arms.  
  
"I'll make it up to you Cas, don't you see I'm here for you now? When you graduate this year, I'll give you the choice to come with me…you'll be ready by then!"   
  
***  
  
"What do you think you're doing Scar-y Potter?" Sirius' loud voice made Harry jumped.  
  
  
  
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, who had just been in middle of buttoning up his shirt, Sirius laughed at the startled look on his face, and Ron's too as a matter of fact.  
  
"You can't wear CLOTHES for Quidditch," he laughed even harder at the horror written on their faces, "it's a Gryffindor rule to always practice in your PJs! We're the comfiest team there is, that's probably why we win so much!!!"  
  
"Actually Siri, our trophies are all thanks to MY brilliant reflexes!" James commented tackling his best friend to the floor, "I saw Fiera Elwood just now, she said she'd like to JOIN you tonight!"  
  
"Ah, like always, my abs will never seize to fail me!!!" Sirius said while wrestling James on the ground.  
  
"But what's all this about the writing on you're chest?" James gave him a suspicious look, a little too suspicious, but Sirius understood why. The two friends had gone through a bit of rough times after the whole nearly getting Snape killed episode, now James was always rather cautious of Sirius' revenge plots, and yes, he could tell this was another one.  
  
"TRUST me mate, it's just a little bit of show n tell…NO one'll get caught!" Sirius tried to reassure him, and using James' distraction as a way to get on top.  
  
  
  
"Then how come I've never heard of West Road Hill??? What kind of store is it?"  
  
"Will you just relax, you're starting to sound like my old aunt Laura!"  
  
"Sirius…" James pulled away staring at him with narrowed eyes.  
  
"It's not illegal, I think," Sirius said sheepishly, and James grinned.  
  
"Ya, right, you said that about the white stuff we tried when we hung out at the muggle world last summer…"  
  
"So…we still had a blast though!" Sirius pointed out, now both boys just stared at each other for a few seconds, before collapsing to the floor laughing their asses off.  
  
Ron gave them an odd look, then turned to Harry with his eyebrows raised, who was grinning humorously. Harry could just imagine his dad and Sirius getting high in a muggle street, knowing it was too difficalt to explain he quickly shook his head at Ron, who just shrugged and looked down absentmindedly, seeing his broomstick, he suddenly turned a few shades lighter.   
  
"Are all of you guys on the team?" Ron asked nervously, hardly noticing the two boys moving around the floor.   
  
"Nope," Remus said in a very careless voice, so much so that it left Harry with the impression that Quidditch wasn't too important to him, "I kinda have a bad history with broomsticks and crashing them into trees, houses…and Mr. Potter's flying car!"  
  
"Here, here," Sirius said as he broke out of James headlock, who was still laughing his butt off.  
  
"Look on the bright side Moony, at least now you're a legend at the Potter parties…something to be proud of don't you think?" James grinned at his friend, but as he opened his mouth to say something next, the grim look on Sirius' face stopped him.  
  
"James," Sirius said quietly, rolling on to his back and resting his head on his arms, "I can't make the next one."  
  
"SIRIUS!" Remus gasped at him in shock, and James just stared at him, "You can't let THEM ruin our yearly tradition!!!"  
  
"Yeah, Sirius you HAVE to come," said Peter, while James slowly got to his feet.  
  
  
  
"I'll get mom to uninvite them…I'd much rather have you there than any of the other Blacks, Sirius! You're part of the Potter family, and we always make it to our parties!!!" James said holding down a hand to Sirius, who took it and got to his feet, laughing.  
  
"Oh come of it Prongsi! I know perfectly well how impolite and totally inappropriate it is to uninvite any of the pureblood families, specially with all the business going on between our dads!!! Besides, I really don't care, I was always pressured into these large parties by my family…think of it as one more way of me breaking free!!!" Sirius said lightheartedly messing up James' already messy head.  
  
"Fine, be this stubborn! But if you won't make it Pads, neither will I!!!" While James looked dead serious, Sirius just grinned.  
  
"Ha ha! That's funny Prongsi, I would believe you, cept for the fact that when it's YOU'RE family throwing the party, it's a MUST for you to be there!!!"   
  
"Laugh all you want, but you just said it yourself, it's a MUST for all members of the Potter family to be there…if you break the rules, than so will I!!!" James crossed his arms, and Sirius just stared at him, his mouth hanging a bit open.  
  
"So…you're gonna go or what?" Remus asked looking as though he was trying to hide his smile, something Harry couldn't manage, but Sirius hardly noticed, he was staring at James, and a sudden smile appeared on his face.  
  
"I changed my mind, I'll be there," his smile quickly turned into a grin and he looked around the room at everyone, his eyes over-bright, "but you guys gotta promise to help me give the Blacks nothing short of hell the WHOLE night!!!"   
  
"A noble night of pureblood class ruined…I can't tell you how much I love the sound of that," James looked rather googly-eyed, before he dived under his unmade bed.  
  
"What are you looking for?" Peter asked anxiously, as the rest exchanged surprised looks.  
  
"One sec," they heard his muffled voice say, and then James crawled out and straightened up to reveal a huge book, with a bold colorful cover which was covered in poisonous looking smoke, "the book I've been telling you guys all through the summer, it came out last week and dad sent me a copy just last night. It's called "Complicated Enough to Make Your Hair Curl: Let's give them a try", doesn't it sound fabulous???? The incantations and spells here are so powerful and amazing, a lot of them are actually practiced by Ministry unspeakables!"  
  
"BLOODY HELL!" Sirius just stared at James as though he was Santa Claus, and so did the rest specially Harry.  
  
"Ministry Unspeakables?" Harry asked, his voice shaky, his memories were suddenly so fresh …but then, the stuff they practiced like love, time, planets, death….it was all so secret, the book must have been a hoax, "How did you're dad get this book, James?"  
  
"Well a lot of the unspeakables have been—let's just say Voldemort has found quite a lot of them USEFULL, so in the past few years the ministry has been having a lot of troubles getting the candidates ready to replace the old workers to gain all the knowledge through complicated notes and lessons, and they've decided that this book would be the best and the quickest alternative for them. Dad is VERY close with the minister, owning the biggest selling newspaper in the wizarding Britain has it's benefits, and so he managed to get one…and sent it to me, as sort of an additional study, he has many goals for me!!! But the point is, this knowledge might be a BIT difficult, but think of all the MUCH more advanced pranks we can play…it'll be like heaven if we figure out all the secrets of this book!!!!"  
  
  
  
Harry however hadn't heard any of this, he just stood there, staring at James transfixed! Death…it was one THEIR studies…their knowledge would definitely include it's secrets…they studied the archway and veil!!! It was all Harry could do to keep himself from jumping James and stealing the book…but then James had said the contents in it were extremely difficult, and if he wanted to learn what happened to—that night, he was gonna need their help! 


	15. The Lucky Few

Disclaimer: I dun own anything….I just miss Siri T_T!  
  
A/N: Glad to know you guyz aren't bored with this fic yet! ^_^ Jamsie's book is definitely gonna come in use soon…but can't say no more!   
  
Peace, Harry thought, I haven't felt so good in so long! The amazing feeling of the wind in his hair sent him away to some sort of heaven, but more than that it was the person flying next to him. It must be nearly impossible for the rest to try to figure out one Potter from the other, Harry thought laughing to himself, almost like the Weasley twins. He stopped a second later though, sure Harry had the superior broomstick, but so far James had managed to be more than a match for him, and getting distracted by his own laughter wasn't something Harry was prepared to lose for. Unfortunately it seemed as though; Harry's lack of Quidditch practice in the last year was now catching up to him! Nevertheless, here flying with his dad, his first true competition, was some sort of heaven all by itself….one of his deepest most desperate dreams come true!!!  
  
Harry took a chance to glance at his father for a split second, who's face was very relaxed, as though he was lying in a flower field…not a worry in sight. Harry tried to block out the cheering of the people watching their race from bellow, and focused harder on the race, his every thought on winning! The two boys were now neck-to-neck, and so close to finishing! So close…if Harry could just get an inch ahead…and all of a sudden his neck twisted, as though on its own, and observed his fathers peaceful expression again! As though hit by a baseball bat, Harry felt horribly winded…by sudden grief! He could just picture his handsome young father getting brutally murdered…because of him, and at that moment Harry felt as though he didn't dare try to win…he didn't want to take something else from James Potter.   
  
Harry gracefully decreased his speed, he let himself fall behind James by inches, the last thing he needed was for his dad to feel like he was being pitied. The second James won thunderous cheers could be heard, and Harry far from feeling envious, flew to his side to congratulate him. Grinning from ear to ear James practically leaped off his own broom to hug Harry.  
  
"Now THAT was awesome!" James gasped into his ear, still hugging him, "looks like you have the Potter talent too…but you're a bit outa shape…but don't worry, I'll help you out this year!!!"  
  
Harry ginned back as James let go, but before he could get a word out, he felt two strong arms wrap around his chest and shoulders. Though shocked for a second, Harry laughed, realizing that the rest of the Gryffindors were now all flying up to them.  
  
  
  
"I finally figured out why Ddore brought another Potter here!" Sirius announced to everyone, still hugging Harry from the back, "Harry has just made history by deflatin' Jamsie's head a tiny bit???"   
  
  
  
"Dude! You have some KILLER movies," Gideon said, high-fiving Harry, then looking at his broomstick, "and that broom of yours….DAMN, it's smooth! Firebolt? It's foreign right?"  
  
"Yeah…" Harry said, turning a darker shade of red, hopping they wouldn't ask too many questions about his broom.  
  
"Yo, let the kid go Black, he's turnin' red!" Benjy also made his way towards them, he obviously mistook Harry's blushing, which was more of a relief to Harry!  
  
"Well, I keep my seekers place…but we have an opening for a keeper and a chaser," James said smiling broadly, "you don't have to try out for them, with you're flying skills, whatever you pick is yours!!!"  
  
"Chaser," Harry said quickly, thinking of Ron, it wouldn't really be fair to snatch the keeper's spot away from him…not now that he had the chance to be great, since he was finally the only Weasley around.  
  
"Alright!!! Shacklebolt and I have some SWEET moves to teach you this year!" Benjy clapped Harry's back so hard, he nearly fell off of his broom.   
  
"Another Potter on our team…" Shacklebolt stared at Harry in a dreamy way, kind of like the way James and Sirius had when they thought he was the 'evil twin', "the Championship is so ours this year!!!"  
  
  
  
***  
  
"Quidditch tryouts are on Monday night!"  
  
  
  
"Great! Just after my project is done for McGonagall, we HAVE to make the team this year!!!"  
  
Ariadne watched the two younger boys walk out of the common room, thinking about what they had just said. She wasn't too shabby in Quidditch herself, if anything she had always been really good…so maybe she could tryout…it really would help pass the time. Her eyes slowly wandered to the only girl she had heard was on the Slytherin team, Dorcas Meadows. Ariadne watched her for a while, the way her long messy waves curtained her face as she read the week's new "Sportz n Warlocks" issue. The girl looked so relaxed, one of the only Slytherin girls that hardly cared about her appearance, but as she read…her eyes shown with an over brightness that Ariadne could see from where she sat.  
  
Ariadne couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something in the Dorcas girl made her different from the other Slytherins, and it wasn't just her mini Quidditch jersey…it might as well have been the air around her…  
  
Trying to get Dorcas out of her mind, Ariadne moved her eyes to the other side of the room, and found Rosier, Wilkes and Snape, sitting together, surrounded by thick heavy books. She watched as Rosier and Snape got up with a bunch of books and stuff, leaving Wilkes all alone. As though he could feel her eyes on him, Wilkes eyes met Ariadne's for a split second, and a small smile appeared on his face. Ariadne felt her already high attraction level for the boy double, the way his dark skin shimmered in the candle light, his large dark lips…he was just too attractive…something Ariadne really appreciated in guys.  
  
Slowly she got up and made her way towards him, watching in satisfaction as his face flushed as he looked up at her. She didn't really say a word until she sat down facing him, closer than strangers would sit next to one another.  
  
  
  
"You got a lotta work here?" Ariadne asked softly, glancing briefly at the books scattered over the floor, and Wilkes just shook his head lightly.  
  
"I just finished!" this brought a large smile on her face.  
  
"Great," she said leaning forward so her lips were inches away from his, and without a second thought sent hers crashing into his, running her fingers through his dreadlocks.  
  
It wasn't too long that people started staring at them, so Wilkes invited a delighted Ariadne to his room. The second Wilkes closed the door behind them; Ariadne wrapped her arms around him, and covered his mouth with hers once again. It was so easy, pleasure held you like a blanket, away from troubles and just felt great…but for the tiniest seconds, moments so brief you could hardly believe were real, Ariadne could feel a wave of sadness wash over her. She believed that sex was just about as close as she'd feel to anyone, true love was for the lucky few…she wasn't even sure she believed in such things.  
  
***   
  
Harry watched Sirius' frowning face, feeling the pit of his stomach fall. It was a bit after noon, the Marauders, Harry and Ron all lay lazily on each others' beds, watching as Sirius flipped through James's misty book. Harry didn't like Sirius looking so confused, it shook the thin glass wall of hope that had been created in his heart ever since the announcement James had made that morning, and nearly sighed in relief when he saw Sirius' usual grin reappearing.  
  
  
  
"Woah! This book has killer photos…" he muttered, but then turned to look up at the others, with the exception of James who was laying on his stomach beside him, reading the book as well, "right well…the planets are the first section!"  
  
"What does it say???" Remus asked sounding rather interested, watching the two black haired boys reading intently, each wearing similar confused mind-blown looks.  
  
"These are the most complicated arithmacy formulas I've ever seen…and I'm the top student in my class!" James exclaimed, his eyebrows raised so high they were in danger of disappearing.  
  
"Dream on buddy, I'm WAY better and you know it," Sirius said without looking up, but as James opened his mouth to say a comeback, Sirius' eyes grew round and he gasped in excitement, "it says here, after a bunch of complicated shit I don't understand, that aliens are real!!!!"  
  
"WHERE???" several of the boys yelled out at the same time, and Sirius squinted his eyes and began to read slower, "Everywhere…but not our solar system…damn, how the hell is this the dummy version of the subject? These descriptions…patterns, they're enough to drive me mad in just a few minutes!!!!"  
  
"Calm down Pads…we're just looking over the book today, besides the more we read this stuff the more comfortable we'll get!" James said quickly flipping over pages, and now it was his eyes that grew much more round, "Holly shit, Pads…you guys remember the little scam me and Sirius tried to pull at the fight??? If we get through the second section, we learn the hidden secrets to working with the natural powers…we would then be able to take on Voldemort himself! Niiiice!"  
  
"I bet Voldie's already mastered that bit!" Remus said bitterly, but Sirius and James were all googly eyed again!!!  
  
"A chapter about prophecies?" Sirius raised an eyebrow turning to look at James, "and here I was taking Chancery's class as a joke…who knows, maybe the real deals are all supposed to look phony!"  
  
"Ooooh…that's a nice picture of the brain," James commented, and by the constipated look on Remus' face, Harry realized the poor boy had, had just about enough, and watched as he jumped on James bed and squeezed in right between Sirius and James, staring at the book, as though he had never seen anything like it before.  
  
"Wow! I feel like I can just reach out and touch it…" and Remus did, wincing at the squishy sound it made as it made contact with his fingers.  
  
"Then there is love," James flipped even more pages, his brows now tangled, staring at his two best friends, "what would they study love for…though this chapter is pretty short, they probably couldn't think of enough things to write!"  
  
"Nope," Remus said shrewdly, turning a few more pages, "it looks like they don't have enough data and info to write about it!"  
  
"This section is about death!!!" Sirius said a little over-enthusiastic, making Harry feel as though he had just slipped on a block of ice, and felt his bottoms drop, "it says there is a gateway in middle of MoM to the dead word…its an ancient gateway, made by a legendry wizard Aiel Mosivani, for a fast execution of top criminals, nearly 800 years ago!"   
  
"That's sick," Remus said, still turning more pages, but now Harry's ears were shut off…a horrible chill had traveled all the way down to his very bones, Harry knew exactly of which gateway spoke of…it was ironic, and terribly sad to hear Sirius talk about the gateway, yet not knowing he was going to die because of it years later. It was something even Ron had noticed, judging but the disturbed expression on his face.  
  
"Different methods of time travel…WE SO HAVE TO TRY THAT SOME TIME!" James sparkled brightly as he and the other two boys hugged over and over again cheering out loud!!!  
  
"Finally, the most useful thing of them all!" Sirius commented, looking through every page very carefully, "man…there are so many bloody ways to it!!!"  
  
Harry's eyes locked with Ron's for a split second, both boys struck with a sudden fear! 


	16. Fantasy Boy

Disclaimer: I own nuttin!   
  
A/N: Sorry for the looooonge delay guys, and THAAAAAAAANX for all you're WONDERFUL reviews! As for your Qz, Sirius' Sweetie Harry and Ron were scared cause they're afraid of the Marauders finding out their secret since Ddore forbid them to let that happen…ping*pong Ariadne is gonna become somewhat important later and I'm gonna put in some more of their dueling in soon (glad u like 'em ^_^), as for the Harry/Ariadne thing , it's gonna be more twisted than you think with another person tangled in (any guesses who???)…a lot of you guys are wondering about Lily's crush/Herm's lie, well Sirius and James know so do the rest of the Marauders, it's bound to come out later on ^_~…YAY! HProx recognized Dorcas Meadows! There is more to the Meadows than we think, and it's gonna shock Sirius big time! Hope y'all like this chappie!!!  
  
Hermione sighed and looked up from her large textbook, sure she liked studying, but thanks to Lily the two girls had ended up spending the whole day doing nothing but studying. I should've hung out with Ron and Harry, she thought frowning across the table at a certain redhead, but expression quickly changed when her eyes fell on the other girl's concentrating face. The truth was something about Lily had unnerved her this morning and it wasn't just that fact that the girl was sitting in the crowded Three Broomstick with only her pjs on, her dark red hair curtained around her in messy natural waves.  
  
Hermione had woken up early to find Lily sitting there on her bed, surrounded by a 100 books, and she had thought she was bad! Yet it only got weirder as Hermione managed to read a few of the titles, like 'Interpret the Word of Dreams' and 'Ways to magically understand things stored in ID'. Feeling as though she had needed to keep a watch on her, Hermione had pulled on her favorite sweatshirt and carried a whole lot of the books for Lily to Hogsmead, promising to help her in whatever she was searching for if only they got out to the village. The girl hadn't exactly told Hermione what the heck it was that was so important, but agreed to camp out at the Three Broomsticks if Hermione quit nagging her.   
  
Lily just sat there, speed-reading through book after book, and now half passed 2pm she had rarely looked up, let alone got out of her seat. Sighing again Hermione put aside the book she was on, deciding that it was much too dull and picked up another one, however before she could flip it open, she felt a hand touch her shoulder lightly, and nearly jumped out of her seat.  
  
"Hey Hermione," she turned around to see Remus' smiling face, and felt her face grow warm.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"Sup Lily?" Remus looked at her bedtime get up in surprise, and gave Hermione a questioning look.  
  
"Where are the rest of the Marauders?" Hermione asked a few seconds after the silence following Lily's ignorance and obviousness to Remus' arrival.  
  
"Sirius is up to something so he's meeting up with us later, James, Peter, Harry and Ron are ogling the Quidditch supple store…after about an hour in that store, I told them I'd get some drinks and wait for 'em here," Remus explained as he sat down on the chair beside her.  
  
"You don't like Quidditch?" Hermione asked in shock, she couldn't believe it possible for any wizard to not be totally obsessed with the sport!  
  
"I do, a lot! But looking at things I can probably never afford gets a bit depressing after a while," despite what he had just said, Remus grinned at Hermione, "there are much better things I can do with my time."  
  
"Yeah…" she said lamely going bright red, she realized she couldn't keep his gaze anymore, and stared down at her 3rd Butterbeer bottle as though it was the most interesting thing in the world.  
  
"Oh god, think I'm turnin' into Sirius!" Remus said suddenly, making Hermione look up, and felt rather relieved to see he was blushing as well, "I meant talking to someone who's brain capacity is larger than a 8 years-olds' is much nicer!"   
  
"Why thank you, I've never heard such an amazing complement before," Hermione laughed along with him, noting to herself that she liked the sound of his. She was about to say something else when Lily suddenly stood up, snapping her book shut.  
  
"When did you get here?" Lily looked at Remus in surprise for just a second before her gaze fell over the books. Whipping out her wand, she shrinked them and quickly piled them in her knapsack, and with a quick goodbye she left the other two alone.  
  
"What's up with her?" Remus asked, but smiled lightly at Hermione's shrug, "which reminds me…what's up with you?"  
  
***  
  
Bellatrix watched the two pretty Slytherin 4th years in envy, she hated the way they clung on to Rabastan, but even more their fake loud giggling as he obviously felt them up under the table. Stupid little Sluts, they're probably so loose they can't even feel his finger's there, she thought cruelly sending a death-glare in their direction, though it went completely unnoticed.  
  
"Are you listening Bella?" Asked an irritated voice, snapping Bella back to her own conversation.  
  
"What do you think," she snapped back at her older sister who looked sickeningly pretty at the moment, colorful blond curls falling into her large shapely dark eyes.  
  
"Just make sure you get you're butt home next weekend!" She said coldly, Narcissia hated nothing more than being ignored and since having always been the middle child that happened far too often. That's probably why she married Malfoy anyway, Bellatrix thought smirking to herself, she could never imagine staying in the same room alone with him for more than 5 minutes, let alone sleep with him!  
  
"And why the bloody hell should I?" Bella watched Narcissia frown, it was obvious from her expression that the she didn't have a clue and that it bugged her a great deal not to do so.  
  
"She is having the whole Black and Malfoy family over and a bunch of others as well, she said we're going to be visited by a very powerful wizard…if you don't show little sis, she'll have your head for it!" Narcissia now took a small sip from her drink, a very elegant sip, so much so it revolted Bella.  
  
"You're so proper aren't you," Bella said glaring at her prefect nails, it disgusted her how stupid some witches really were. Too busy charming her hair and nails, Narcissia probably wasn't even nearly as magically strong as Bellatrix was even though she was 6 years older.  
  
"You better learn to be too, unless you want dad to cut you out of the family the way he did to Andromeda…" Bella hardly took notice of the dangerous glint in her sister's eyes, she had always known that Narcissia had hated their older sister, even before she disgraced herself with that mudblood fool.  
  
"I remember a time when mom and dad liked her even more than you," Bella laughed out enjoying the unnerved look on the blond's face. The sad part of it was that it was actually true. Bella had been very young back then, but she could still remember how much her dad had liked Andromeda, always commenting on her brilliance and how she had become head girl…and Narcissia was always pushed to the side even though she had gone to Slytherin (their family's favored choice) and Andromeda to Ravenclaw.  
  
"I think I've just had enough of this little conversation, the horrible colors you've used on you're face are enough to make me puke! I think I'll go home, my husband is getting home soon anyway…and by the way; please brush you're hair before the party next week. Mom would freak when she sees how horribly WILD you look, not too different from a disgusting fury animal…and take a shower while you're at it. Wearing make-up when you don't know how is never a good choice." With one last dirty look, Narcissia quickly got up leaving a few large gold coins on the table.  
  
Bella didn't bother to snap anything back before getting up from the table herself, she would deal with Narcissia's envy another way, smirking she taught of how pathetic the girl was fighting for her parents' love and pride…by being the poster girl for a pureblood witch. Some people truly were stupid, Bella knew she would rather die than listen to anybody herself, it was beyond pathetic and embarrassing for anyone to have any kind of power over you…without a warning her head snapped to her right where the loud fake giggling could be heard. A horrible wave of jealousy and anger consumed Bella, so much that she felt her hands curl into fists. Feeling her nails cut into her flesh, Bella growled softly and quickly stormed out of the Three Broomsticks, pushing the door open with all her might.  
  
Still bumping into people as she passed, Bella hardly spared them an apology and kept her anger heated pace…until she heard her name called by a somewhat rough voice. Bella whipped around to find herself within inches of Rodolphus Lestrange who had an odd expression on his face. Trying not to breath in his enchanting spicy scent, she stared at him coldly, telling him through her eyes to leave her alone.  
  
"My brother screwing with a bunch of whores again?" He asked his eyes still uncomfortably on Bella, who had no desire to show what he had said was accurate.  
  
"And why would I care?" she tried desperately to sound casual but there was something about Rodolphus' eyes that gave her the horrible impression that they could read right through her. Most people with brown eyes looked sickeningly warm…Rodolphus however couldn't look any colder!  
  
"He will never love you," Rodolphus said simply, as though he had no clue he had just driven a sword right into Bella's heart…yet the way his eyes shown told her he knew EXACTLY how she felt.  
  
"I don't…go fuck yourself Lestrange!" She said suddenly, tasting bitter hate at the tip of her tongue. She had turned around and was about to get as far away from him as she possibly could, but something in his voice as he called her again stopped her and she slowly faced him once again.   
  
"Wake up Bella, can't you see the immense power he has over you? Aren't you ashamed as you should be? If you really want him than do what you must to have him…don't let anyone effect you in such a way!" The unnerving sureness had left his eyes, they now looked over-bright and Bella wasn't sure how to read them.  
  
"Why do you care?" She asked him slowly, still not sure what the sudden emotion charge in Rodolphus' usual steely tone had meant. An odd expression passed his face so fast Bella hadn't managed to recognize it, before he opened his mouth his face hinting a smug sneer.  
  
"I need someone to help me test something out and might as well let a Black do the honors!" He said with a slight mock bow, just enough to show that he knew of the Black's claims to being royalty. A large smirk slit across Bella's face, half cause she enjoyed trying out new things, and half imagining the look on her lame cousin's face if he had seen Lestrange bow like that.  
  
"Fine, tell me what the bloody hell you're up to…I'll tell you then if I'm interested or not!" Bella had to bite her lips to stop herself from grinning from ear to ear; she could tell by the excited look on Rodolphus' face he had something really good to show her!  
  
***   
  
"Too bad! I like the raspberry scented bubbles…you should just be glad that I'm not reporting you and Remus for giving you the password of the PREFECT bathroom!" Lily snapped. Her bad mood had taken down hill the second she walked into the bathroom to find none other than Sirius Black ready to take away the private reading time she had dreamed of having in the bubble pool.  
  
"If you were gonna report, then how come you never did both me and James last year?" he asked laughing before he dived back into the pool.  
  
  
  
Lily decided not to answer, she wasn't so sure she even had the energy to. It had been days since Lily had slept well…not since her little nap by Harry's bedside. Lily shivered despite herself, it was taking her longer than she had originally thought to get over the horrifying images out of her head. Trying not to look any more worn out than she actually was, Lily pulled off her towel and slipped into the warm water quickly.   
  
  
  
Tightening her halter bikini strings Lily grabbed one of the large books on the side and flipped it open on the floor marbles. Her eyes fell across the page she had left off, then flipped forward a few pages till she found a title that caught her attention. In her excitement of finding the amazing page Lily had become totally oblivious to the fact that Sirius was also in the pool with her, and jumped when she heard his deep voice inches away from her ears.  
  
  
  
"'Seeing Another's Dreams," he said his voice drowned in confusion, "what are you planning? You gonna get into Prongsi's dreams and curs him if it's erotic things about you?"   
  
"Since you're too thick to notice, this might just be news to you Black, but my whole world doesn't revolve around gits like you!" She snapped, giving him a light push she looked up "please just leave me alone right now!"  
  
"Don't think your body is sayin' the same thing!" Sirius exclaimed looking at something on his chest, horrified Lily realized her hand was still resting on his chest…his smooth, muscley, tanned chest!  
  
"Uh…" Lily quickly pulled her hand away, no longer looking the boy in the eyes as her face was now slightly flushed, while Sirius just laughed one of his hands messing up her hair.  
  
"You know what you're problem is Evans? You take things too seriously, just lighten up once in a while!" he was still laughing and this time he took Lily's arm as he dived deep into the water.  
  
"Fuck off Black, I'm NOT in the mood!" Lily said coughing out bubbles she had swallowed by accident, and pushed her way through the water back to her books.  
  
"Why do you hate me Evans," Sirius asked a few minutes later, as though wondering if he should ask or not.  
  
"Cause you act like you're the coolest person in the world," she said aware of the fact that she wouldn't be getting too much reading done in presence of a Marauder, "you and Potter walk around as if you own the world…you know how pathetic that makes you look?"  
  
"Most of Hogwarts think we're anything but pathetic, they treat us like gods!"  
  
"I'm not most of Hogwarts then," Lily's voice was sincere since they first started talking, her eyes caught Sirius' for a second…an almost amused expression passed through them.  
  
"You know what Evans? I was wrong, you do chill out a lot…but never around us, I mean the Marauders," Sirius peered at her his eyes soft yet searching.   
  
"Is that what you think," Lily gave him a small smile but offered nothing more.  
  
"Yeah…I think you like James Lily, a lot!" as he said this, Sirius was pleased to see her face grow at least 3 shades redder.  
  
"I don't—"  
  
"And don't try to deny it, the look on you're face was all I needed," Sirius said with a slight grin looking at Lily whose eyes were locked with his, searching his face, as though wondering if she could really trust him, "he obviously is mad about you, why is it that you reject him over and over again?"  
  
"I…Sirius, the James Potter I like is a fantasy," Lily began wrapping her arms around herself, as though afraid Sirius would attack her at her vulnerable state, "he doesn't exist! It's a boy with James' face, his brilliance…but not his ego! It's a boy of all the sweet things he had said and done these past years, every little thing like picking up that first year's books, or the time he explain how he felt about love in class and why love potions should never be made legal! It's like a dream boy out of a James Potter scrap book…it has some of him, but not everything!"  
  
"You noticed ALL those things?" Sirius asked staring at her in aw, and Lily gave him a sad smile.  
  
"I'm just a hopeless romantic," she sighed staring at the bubbly water and suddenly she looked right up at Sirius, "I gotta learn to live in the real world…find a fun faulted guy, not one half out of my dreams and half out of my nightmares!"  
  
  
  
"I can tell a girl in need when I see one," Sirius mockingly puckered up his lips swimming to Lily, who gave him a playful glare and threw a large handful of bubbles in his face.  
  
  
  
Laughing Sirius stuck her head into the thick bubbly surface and tried to jump on her back for in water piggyback ride. Lily though who was rather soapy slipped from right under him and clutched her tummy laughing as Sirius lost his balance. Like Lily had expected he was over exaggerating it as if he was falling to his death by flying his arms all over the place, a horrified look on his face, and his left leg stuck right out. Weird part was that his showmanship wasn't bugging Lily at all, not the way it usually did, in fact she thought it was actually very funny and oddly creative!  
  
  
  
"You're going to pay Evans!" Sirius waved a threatening finger at her as he swam towards her, his eyes sparkling the way James usually did before he did something he was forbidden to do so…  
  
Lily didn't even have time to react as Sirius once again grabbed on to her arm, though this time it wasn't just a duck underwater. To her surprise, this time Sirius had Lily do the underwater flip with him, causing a large amount of disgustingly soapy water to enter Lily's mouth and nose. Gagging Lily took some time to shake the heavy water out her hair a little when Sirius finally let go of her, but didn't take too long before her hands were placed on his head pushing his face underwater. Sirius was too strong for her though; he suddenly grabbed her small waist and pulled her down with him.  
  
It took Lily a few seconds to realize their half-naked bodies were nearly rubbing against each other, something that took her breath away instantly. Lily watched Sirius' handsome face, wanting to kiss him more and more every second, but realized he didn't make a single move at her. Lily couldn't take it anymore, his pouty lips looked too prefect, too delicious…  
  
"No!" Sirius suddenly said, letting go of her and swam away.  
  
"What?" Lily felt her voice break, she suddenly wanted to cry yet she was sure she had embarrassed herself enough already.   
  
"I like you Lily, you're really pretty…but obviously madly in love with my best friend!" Sirius' gaze felt almost like x-ray projectors on her face.  
  
"No I don't, I thought I already explained—"  
  
"It doesn't matter," Sirius said quietly his searching gaze still there, "James is closer to me than a brother, he was the only person I can truly trust with anything my whole life…I'll never do anything to jeopardize our friendship!"  
  
"Sirius…" Lily laughed softly, "I'm sure James wont stop being your friend over his silly little crush!"  
  
"You just don't get it do you?" Sirius' volume had suddenly risen a bit though he now looked a bit sad, "he really cares about you…I think he loves you, but you're just too hardheaded to see that! I know James would never do anything with the girl I'll fall in love with not even if it was this tempting or more…maybe you're not close to anyone like me and James are…"  
  
"You've gotta be kidding me," Lily said watching his light smile as he swam back to her side and kissed her forehead gently.  
  
"See ya around wonder witch," and with that Sirius climbed out of the pool and wrapped a forest green towel around his waist.   
  
Watching Sirius leave the bathroom, Lily got lost in her thoughts, Sirius' words flashing in her head. Sirius was known to do any girl anywhere, no matter what…what the hell happed to Hogwarts' famous player? He said James loves me, Lily thought feeling goose bumps on her arms and looked down to see all the bubbles were gone.   
  
Walking out and pulling her own towel around her, Lily was still lost in thought. She couldn't possibly believe that the arrogant James Potter could actually love anyone but himself…yet his relationship with Sirius was so…deep. Lily felt a stab of jealousy at the boys, she knew she'd die to have someone so close…like her fantasy James, the one who was both caring, smart and funny…yet the way Sirius had talked about him, the real James Potter seemed exactly the same way. 


	17. Easily Forgotten

Disclaimer: I own nuttin.  
  
A/N: Thanks sooooooooooo much for all you're reviews everyone, and sorry for another looong delay! Net probs really suck…anyway this chap is a bit more mushy then usual, and the things happening here are gonna reflect the future of this fic. Oh and I promise the next chapter will wont take nearly as long!   
  
To answer Ice Maraud's concerns about the Lucius' age difference to Black n Potter it's not as close as you think. In book 5 they mentioned his age was like 41 or 42 (can't remember!) and while Black and Lupin were about 35 or 36, besides Sirius didn't mention Lucius as one of Snape's buds in book 4…so they're not as young as you think. But then I may be wrong so…don't kill me ^_^  
  
Also to answer the concern about the whole Order thing: there are about 24 members of the original order in the picture Moody showed Harry, and only about 9 of them are in Hogwarts, which isn't even half. The only reason I did this was cause Dombledore was very close to James and Sirius and their friends, and the first order was pretty small and privet, so don't you think close friends would work out better than just random people? Besides not everyone joins early on, Kingsley wasn't part of the original order, but it really sounded like he knew Harry's dad in book 5. Besides the people of the order I put in this fic all died as singles (if they died), with the exception of the Potters, while the older members had their families killed as well.  
  
Acacia Jules Harry isn't about to heal all too smoothly, he is mainly there to learn, but don't worry guys Ariadne and Harry made good dueling partners, but I was never planning to put them together…it's been done too many times, I agree, and I have had someone else planned for her to be with! ^_~   
  
Enjoy!  
  
Gideon felt as though he was drowning in the fire of passion, yet at the same time swimming in icy water. Sweat covered his bare chest and stomach, though his skin grew goosebumps with her every touch. Here he lay in an empty broom cupboard with the girl he detested for most of his life, the girl he wished nothing for but ill fortune…yet it was the same girl his heart screamed out for deep into the night.   
  
Gideon gazed at her beautiful face as she settled herself on his stomach and slowly leaned down letting her long hair brush against his bare torso, tickling it, before her lips met his in a soft yet exploding motion. With her warm playful tongue wrestling his and her small smooth hands running across his chest and back Gideon felt helpless as a baby…unable to even think, as his mind became a wasted mush of a mix of her sweet warm taste and her forest like scent.   
  
Drunken with passion, Gideon felt the back of her robes for its buttons, freeing her soft skin from the heavy black material. They had done this so many times it had become almost natural to them, yet there were still mornings Gideon awoke to think of it all as nothing but a blissful dream. Every second he spend with his arms wrapped around her, feeling her soft figure pressed against him seemed unreal, like a fantasy he might have had of the girl of his dreams…but much like a nightmare as well, in which he realized something terrible, something he couldn't bare to admit even to himself.   
  
To Gideon life seemed funny, at every turn your worst fears appeared, everything was confusing and terrible things happened. At that moment however he couldn't care less, at that moment his entire world revolved around her, the touch of her, the feel of her tongue against his…time seemed to have stopped, and every horrifying thought Gideon would have later on that night bared no trace in his mind. He couldn't imagine feeling this much lust for anyone else…so was it really that, or maybe something more?   
  
***  
  
Fabian's eyes traveled from the boxes of Alcoholic Butterbeer floating in the air in front of Benjy and Kingsley, and the horrified look on Hermione's face. She obviously hadn't been in Hogwarts long, though he had heard she was a 6th year, as the annual Hogsmead Outdoor parties included a large crowd of 5th years and up (mostly Gryffindors, hardly any Slytherins), Potter's large bewitched magical radio, students in designer wizard and witch wear, and of course many bottles of alcoholic drinks. It was tradition made by the Marauders when they were quite young, but since it had been done at every Hogsmead trip, it seemed to have gone on forever.  
  
"Where did you get those?" She demanded, and Benjy who had mistaken her anger for curiosity grinned pointing westward towards an old dumpy place called Hogs Head, the owner being Hogwarts students' top dealer, even when it came to silly muggle drugs.  
  
"It's a little filthy lookin', but the owner really knows his stuff! He has everything to make a teenage boy happy n high," Benjy laughed as though he had made the funniest joke ever, and Fabian would've bet anything he saw smoke coming out of the bushy haired girl's nostrils.  
  
Not wanting to stick around for the explosion Fabian gave his brother's friends a quick wave of hand, and pushed his way through the crowd clenching his teeth when he realized he had just knocked his ex-girlfriend down. It was never a pleasant thing to run into someone who you had dumped, someone who had cared for you a great deal when you did not…the guilt arose at the very sight of them. Barely giving her an apologetic smile, he hurriedly changed his direction, feeling her eyes burning holes into his retreating back.   
  
Finally managing his way out of the crowd, Fabian spotted his friend Barty and quickly made his way towards him, but stopped the second he got a glimpse of the other boy's face. Barty's usually pale skin was now the sickly color of sour milk, a cold expression lay on his face, and his hand had formed a fist which crumpled a piece of parchment. Fabian quickly realized what must have been going on and he sat on the fence Barty was leaning on. For a while Fabian just sat there, not saying a word, knowing Barty for so long now, he knew his friend would tell him about it when he was ready, if he was ever gonna.  
  
"He actually thinks I care," Barty said suddenly, the bitterness of his voice visible even for the loud Weird Sister's screaming, "he actually tried to plead his case in the letter, as he called it…what the fuck does he think I'm gonna think? That I'm fucking sorry for him and the instability of the Ministry of Magic and their relation with other countries?"   
  
"Where is he going?" Fabian asked knowing very well the only 'he' who could affect Fabian this way was the senior Crouch, Barty's dad.  
  
"South Africa, he is taking mom with him…but can't take me now can he…" Barty let out a string of swear words Fabian knew he would never call his dad without getting cursed on the spot, but Mr. Crouch probably wouldn't even have time to care what came out of Barty's mouth.  
  
"For Christmas?" Fabian asked, though the expression on Barty's face had been enough to answer his question long before.  
  
"Of course, he told me not to bother coming home at all, that he was sure they had a fine celebration every year at Hogwarts," Barty suddenly began laughing, "he is one of the top officials at the Ministry of Magic, yet he couldn't get more clueless about the whole Voldemort business…about how everyone spends as much time they have with their family cause they might not be there the next day…"  
  
"What?" Fabian suddenly said, he didn't like Barty's tone when he had just said what he said.   
  
"You know how no one ever stays here for Christmas anymore," Barty said absent mindedly, the answer far from what Fabian's question had really been about.  
  
"Why don't you stay with us then," Fabian quickly suggested. Barty had always been very hot headed; the boy hardly ever thought things over and just did whatever he felt like doing at the moment, he had been in more fights than Black and Potter, and that was saying something.   
  
"Thanks but I can't, you guys need your time together, besides my parents are gonna be gone for nearly 6 months starting from now…I think I'll make some use of our empty house…" Barty said turning to Fabian with a small smile, but Fabian could see his eyes sparkling with anger and knew the use Barty was talking about wasn't just some crazy party most teen wizards had.  
  
"No, really come to my place!" Fabian urged him, "that way you'll show him that you weren't even planning to go home this year anyway!"  
  
"I'll think about it," Barty muttered and leaned back against the fence once again, apparently lost in thought.  
  
Fabian watched him out of the corner of his eye for a while. Barty Crouch was usually a loner if anything, while all the other boys went out and tried to flirt with girls and be part of the crowd…he just hung back…not caring. Fabian on the other hand had always been a people person, the party animal, the athlete, and a younger version of Gideon for the most part. Fabian didn't know what it was that drew the two boys together, how they had been friends for so long though they were so different. Nevertheless the two were very close, closer than they were with their other friends, and Fabian hated when he saw his best friend in so much distress.  
  
"Crouch thinks he is so amazing and all, but how amazing can he truly be if he ignores his own son like this…as though I don't exist, or matter," Crouch began again, and though he tried to hide it, Fabian could hear the pain in his voice, "when I talk to him about it he just lectures me on how he really can't, how his life is too busy…how important everything else is…"  
  
Barty suddenly turned to Fabian with another smile on his face, one that looked more like a grimace, "Fuck it man, let's just go get boozed up…who the fuck really cares anyway, I'll be out of that hellhole in a few years…maybe then he'll realize exactly what he lost!"  
  
  
  
Fabian smiled sadly, he didn't know Mr. Crouch very well, but he hated him just the same…he hated the way he hurt Barty, his very own son. Fabian just didn't get it; he couldn't understand how Crouch could possibly hurt someone so amazing over and over again.  
  
"Actually Black said to meet him at West Road Hill, he probably got some new shit we could use!" Fabian said, letting out a large sigh.  
  
***  
  
Hermione's cheeks burned red when Remus had asked her to dance and even more so when he pulled her to him, much closer than she had been held some years ago when dancing with Victor Krum. Scared Remus might see her blushing so furiously; she quickly rested her head against his chest, trying to calm herself down. Hermione listened to his hear beat against his chest, slowly relaxing and letting the soft slow music wash over her. For a while they just stood there, barely moving, Hermione astonished to find it so natural just holding on to Remus Lupin.  
  
Enjoying being held in Remus' arms, Hermione could hardly remember he was the same Lupin who had been her teacher, for the first time in her life she could hardly think at all. Her head was practically swirling with thoughts all she could think about was the feel of Remus' body against her, and his hands running down her back. It seemed so natural when he lowered his head and covered his lips with hers, but at the same time Hermione's very skin was on fire. She couldn't help but like the feeling of his soft lips brushing against hers, even the heat of his tongue playing with hers. When his lips left hers, Hermione buried her face in his chest, her face flushed from her very first kiss.  
  
  
  
***  
  
"Fellow wizards and sexy witches, I've asked you to all meet me here for a very special event. It's called the 'What that person does behind closed doors'! You ever wondered what some of these pureblood families Slytherins always boast about are really like? How bout what you're teachers did when they were young???" Sirius was then sure he had everyone's attention, grinning at the crowd he motioned them to follow him, as he pushed open the heavy wooden doors.  
  
At a large desk covered in large stacks of parchment sat an middle age dumpy witch, her graying hair rather frizzy and pulled back in some kind of an loose ponytail, her lips pursed at the sight of all the teenagers entering her lobby. Her greenish eyes flashed dangerously at Sirius, who merely grinned pulling out a small sack of gold coins, and spilled them all on top a messy stack of parchment, and a heavy gold ring, which he placed on top of the gold. The second the woman laid eyes on the ring her eyes grew as round as dinner plates, and doing some kind of semi-bow for Sirius she quickly invited him into the building, an invitation Sirius accepted graciously and the others followed him closely behind.  
  
There were many gasps of surprise as they had just entered a large room with a bar at one end and a stage at the other. The gasps were however for the poles on every single table, making the place obviously a strip witch club. Sirius barely stopped to let the group look around, instead he made his way to the stage and out to the back stage, into a room full of mirrors, flashy undergarments, and makeup. Sirius though let them out of that room as well and into a smaller very expensive looking room, with everything from the furniture to the paint looked elegant and very fine. The room had a few 1800 centaury style couches with a very beautiful table sitting in the middle a petit yet splendid fountain stood in the back and a shiny silver pole in the front. Yet again Sirius barely paid any attention to them, and walked into the room towards a large picture hanging on the wall.  
  
"This like many of the others in this room is a picture of a divine young woman who made a lot of money even at 17, her family owns this place and many others like it…and she was the star of them!" Sirius said his voice without the smallest touch of humor in it.  
  
Everyone looked on at the picture where a beautiful girl stood wearing robes ripped in so many places it made little difference if she had not wore it at all. The girl's arms circled two much older men's shoulders, who looked very rich as each of them was showering her with large gold coins. The girl's long platinum hair was pulled back in curls and her eyes heavily drawn with makeup, but there was no mistaking her, Anika Meadows' wild beauty still glared through.   
  
Sirius had thought he'd be bursting with laughter about now, having pulled one of his best pranks yet, but now he just couldn't find anything funny about it. If anything Sirius felt a little sick to his stomach, he disgustedly watched the shocked students looking around the room at all the other pictures of Anika in shock. A whole lot of the guys were whistling, most of the girls commenting on the robes, and a group of people staring at Sirius in shock. Sirius looked over at them and his eyes met up with Remus', for a second he just stared at him, the horror that covered his friend's face was enough to make him even sicker.  
  
"Whoa, she was hot!" James' voice said from behind Sirius, who had been too busy with Remus' horrified look to notice him.  
  
"Hot? She was a fucking…" Remus looked at James in shock, "you think what he just did is funny?"  
  
"Not funny, but she is a bitch," James said in a matter-of-fact tone, Remus gave him a disgusted look and turned back to Sirius.  
  
"She is our teacher…why the hell would you do this? Humiliate her so badly? Sirius…I never thought you'd sink so low…" Sirius felt a horrible prickling in his throat.  
  
"I wouldn't."  
  
"Then why?"  
  
"Because she deserves it!" Sirius half screamed, making everyone in the room jump.  
  
Remus didn't say anything, but he just looked at Sirius his expression now knowing, as though he got something others didn't, "You should apologize to her," he said quietly, and after looking at him for a few seconds Sirius nodded slowly.  
  
"Good, that's the least I deserve from you anyway!" said a sharp familiar voice, and to everyone's horror, a tall platinum haired woman removed what seemed like an invisibility cloak off of herself.  
  
The students cried out in horror and quickly ran out the room, while Remus and James tried to stay behind, but a grimacing Sirius pushed them away towards the door telling them to go, the stubborn look in his eyes showing that there was no changing his mind.  
  
  
  
Without saying a word Anika threw her cloak on the floor, and walked up to the pictures examining them for a while, as though she had never seen them before. All this while Sirius didn't dare say a single word, he just stood there, leaning against the wall, trying not to brood on the horrible mistake he had just made. Suddenly Anika turned around looking at Sirius, her face expressionless.  
  
"My dad always said 'It doesn't matter how you make money, just that you make it.' He didn't care that some of the pureblood families looked down on us, because they wouldn't dare insult us to our face cause we were much richer and more powerful then them," she sighed, then smiled softly as though lost in pleasant thoughts, "he said there was no shame in making yourself the richest most powerful person you could be, not if you wanted it!"  
  
"I'm sorry," Sirius said quietly, though he knew it would make little difference he still had to say it, and unlike most times these words had formed out of his mouth he actually meant it this time.  
  
"Don't be," she laughed at the shocked look on his face, "You weren't lying or anything, this is all me…or at least me at seventeen, and I refuse to deny it! Maybe to you and all the others it may look dirty, gross…trashy, but to me it's a stage of my life, one I learned a lot from, and I own it with pride."  
  
"What?" Sirius couldn't believe she was actually telling the truth, but her eyes burned so bright he knew no one could lie so well, "how could you…"  
  
"You see Sirius, you and many more might see my family as horrible disgusting people, but to me they're still my family…my life. People aren't prefect, they make horrible mistakes, believe in things that are absurd…yet they're people…sometimes the people we can't help but love."  
  
"So you love a bunch of pureblood crazy fools whose close-mindedness has brought the doom of us all?" Sirius hadn't meant to sound so harsh, but his mind had suddenly took him back to places and memories he much rather forget.  
  
"Yes. They say love is crazy, but horribly strong and it's true. No matter how they are, what foolish things they believe in…Sirius they're still my family, people I grew to love as they took care of me, taught me, held me when I felt alone…things I can never began to dismiss and forget so easily," she suddenly wrapped her arms around herself, as though suddenly cold, Sirius too had began to shake ever so slightly, though for an entirely different reason.  
  
"NO! I can never like the Blacks!!! Maybe you're family was kind to you as you grew up, but definitely NOT mine! They decided they hated me the day I got into Gryffindor, always saying I was disobedient, that I should be punished for it! They probably just wanted a son who was like a faithful little dog, doing everything the way they wished…like their favorite son Regulus…" yet as he said this, Sirius was suddenly blinded by images that made his blood run cold and his eyes burn begging to soak with tears.   
  
Images of him and his father in their yard when he was about 5 or 6, his father training him with his own wand, and glowing in pride telling Sirius he was gonna be one heck of a wizard someday. He could also see Regulus and him as kids, playing together, laughing…all the nights his little brother had spent in his bed, scared the 'Muggy the Mad Mocking Muggle' would jump out of his closet and take him to the muggle world. He could still remember the worried looks on his family's faces as they sat by his hospital bed all the times he managed to hurt himself when playing with other people's wands. It was usually easy to forget things like this, much easier to hate them all…  
  
"You might not care much, but my memories are very precious to me, I cannot so simply say I hate someone and forget all the special things they did for me, their love for me…if you can Sirius Black, then I truly envy you, because my heart refuses to let me do that!" And with that she slowly turned away and walked out the door, pausing only to pick her silvery cloak up.  
  
Sirius didn't move for a few minutes, but just stood there his mind flooded with clear little clips of the memories he had managed to so easily brush aside. Suddenly he realized he just couldn't take it anymore and fell to the floor, covering his face with his large hands Sirius began to sob…tears rolling down his face for the first time since he had left the house he had grown up to call home. 


	18. Almost Desprate

Disclaimer: If I owned HP I would spend countless hours trying to come up with plans to sneak into JK's house and steal her copy of last chappi in book 7….jk….I really wish I could though!  
  
A/N: Sorry for da loooong delay every1! Stupid exams…..I've been up to my neck with final assignments and studying….n my next chap will probably be posted 2 weeks from now….or sooner, depending on how well ma studying goes! Anyway, on a happier note a response to Acacia Jules, I really do have a plot….sure it's a bit messy, but all the new characters you seem to find pointless are a part of it. Oh n in later chapz u gotta keep your watch on the Potter's New Years party…..some stuff are gonna unwrap there…very important to da plot. As silly as this story seems, it does have a plot n propose…just hope you're patient with the immature humor and craziness! ^_^  
  
TheSunAndTheMoon, I totally dig you're idea….itz AWSOME! Hope you have fun doing it!!! And to all my other reviewers THANKS SOOOOOO MUCH, you're reviews are definitely confidence boosters!!!! I promise to try to be faster with chapters as soon as exams are over!   
  
Hermione sighed quietly, hoping no one noticed how down she was over not seeing Remus till the party the Potters were having on New Year Eve. James had assure Hermione, Harry, and Ron over and over about how his mother simply loved company and how they just had to stay over at his house if they weren't planning to travel all the way back home, so they had little choice but to agree to spend the winter holidays at the Potters, not that any of them minded at all. Though to Hermione's disappointment not all the Marauders were going to be there, Remus and Peter had gone to their own families for most of the holidays.   
  
Sighing once again, Hermione turn away from the car window to watch the boys, ogling over a Quidditch magazine. Her eyes fell on James Potter for a second, the boy all the girls in her dormitory always talked about, except Lily who usually scowled at the mention of his name. While appearance wise he looked a mirror image of Harry (well almost anyway), when it came to personality…Hermione just couldn't imagine Harry running around with Sirius and tackling everyone in the Great Hall and drenching them with ever filling beer bottles. That she had learned was the Marauder way of wishing all merry Christmas, funny…till they all realized the bottles were charmed so the fluid drenching them wouldn't be dried so easily, and with all their other closes already packed in the train…it soon became a rather wet sticky problem.  
  
  
  
Still lost in thought, Hermione was surprised to feel the car stop. Her eyes fell on Sirius and James whose grinning faces were practically glowing. After stealing a quick look to see Harry's excited expression, she got out of the large black limousine the Potters had sent for them, and felt her jaw drop seeing the magnificence of the Potter manor.   
  
"James, Sirius!" A female voice called, and Hermione looked around to see a blond woman with a towel robe clad around her running towards them.  
  
"Mom," James cried in agony, and Sirius just clasped on the perfectly trimmed green grass.  
  
  
  
The woman merely crossed her arms across her chest, and raised one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows at them. Turning to the trio instead with a warm smile on her face, made Hermione realized just how young and beautiful she was…until the woman's eyes fell on Harry. It was obvious from the shocked look on her face that she had also seen the amazingly strong resemblance he bore to James, and it hardly seemed to help when James introduced him to her as Harry Potter.  
  
"Potter," she said finally, still looking rather bewildered.   
  
"Yeah, he says he thinks he is a faraway cousin of ours or somethin'," James said, pulling out a bag of BBEF beans.  
  
"Um…I'm sure that must be it," Hermione was sure she had seen something flicker in her eyes, but it was gone in less than a second, and instead now she turned to James and Sirius frowning, "up in the house we have the finest in cooking hours-elves, and all you two can munch on is disgusting junk!!!"  
  
"Sorry mom, just getting used to the school life: little sleep, hard labor during daily detentions, starvation, crappy food…" he sighed tragically as though he was trying to be brave and not show just how much it hurt.   
  
"Please, if Hogwarts was half as bad, you'd have learned a tiny bit about obedience and rules…I guess you just can't have everything in life," she imitated his tragic sigh, "get in the house and get something healthy to eat, or I'll get Dumbledore to personally monitor you're diets at school…actually better yet McGonagall, that woman has sent me quite a few letters in the last few months…"  
  
Exchanged grim looks, James and Sirius quickly jumped up from where they had sat on the grass and ran all the way to the front door. After seeing the two boys disappear inside, Mrs. Potter turned to smile at the trio once again, her eyes lingering on Harry, before turning to the other two. She asked for their names and grinned at the mention of the name weasley, showing a dimple in her left cheek.  
  
"I had a best friend named Molly Weasley once, it's a shame we lost touch after I got married the year we graduated. I hear she her eldest is 9 years old now, she must be you're auntie, you have her eyes…and flaming red hair."   
  
"Uh…she is my mom's cousin," Ron said awkwardly, but Mrs. Potter hardly noticed, as she was staring at Hermione now.  
  
"A muggle born, am I right?" she asked, with not even a hint of discrimination in her voice, but her expression, still soft, had something odd about it that Hermione couldn't put her finger on quite yet.  
  
"Yes," she said simply.  
  
"Lovely, you have something called a television…it has bound me and my husband to it like a dead spider in a bubbling cauldron," Mrs. Potter laughed, "how bout you two go in there and explore, get something to eat as well, the house-elves will make you anything you wish…and let me and Harry have a small chat about the Potters out in France."  
  
  
  
Hermione was so scared Harry would blow his cover that she hardly noticed the bit about the house-elves, and instead grasped Ron's sweater sleeve. The two of them stared at Harry with worried faces, but the other boy just stared at his very young grandmother with a rather glazed look. Seeing as there was nothing they could do about anything, and their stay would make things much more suspicious, Ron and Hermione made their way to the front doors and sent Harry one last look before stepping into the house.  
  
***  
  
Harry followed Mrs. Potter around the mansion and in through a back door near a large pool and into what look like a huge elegant library with shelves full of books and walls covered by ancient portraits. Mrs. Potter offered Harry the chair sitting in front of a large desk in the middle of the room, and leaned against the desk herself facing Harry, a peculiar expression on her pretty face.   
  
  
  
"Who are you really? And don't try to keep going with you're ridiculous story about far way cousins from France. You see Harry, I own a famous line of witch wear, and I've been forced to get to know every pureblood family throughout the world…we have no Potter relatives in France or in any other part of Europe, some in North America…but…why don't you just tell me who you really are?" she asked, her large sea colored eyes telling him she knew he was not a cousin…and there would be no fooling her.  
  
"What does it matter?" Harry replied, the next best thing he could think of saying, instead of telling her something she knew was false.  
  
"I matters, because…" she stopped suddenly biting her lip and her eyes began to shine as though wet with tears, "I think you're James' son."  
  
"What!" Harry was so shocked he felt color leave his face, and his fingers that had become sweaty were now ice cold. Feeling her eyes on him, now soft and crying, he realized she was sure about what she had just said, and defeated he looked down, "how did you know?"  
  
"The way you first looked at me…it was so sad, yet wonderful at the same time. They died didn't they?" she didn't wait for an answer and instead wrapped her arms around him, letting his head rest against her chest, "I wasn't there either…no one was…"  
  
"Is it that obvious," Harry croaked not able to fight the tears that now rained down his cheeks.  
  
"Yes…you're face…it looked so lonely. I'm so glad I can do this…held you…and that lost look in your eyes…I felt like it would tear my heart to little pieces…" she murmured into his hair, comforting him, yet at the same time clenching at his heart, as though someone was trying to squeeze it dry of blood.  
  
Harry had never been hugged like this; it was desperate almost, for the both of them. So longing, so loving, he was sure he could feel her love radiate as she held him against her heart. Yet the tears didn't seem able to stop, it was like a dream come true in most ways…but also like a cruel joke, showing him what he was missing…the love he'd never have! It hurt so bad, tearing at his very soul, but Harry wasn't able to let go…feeling as though if he did, a part of him would die.  
  
***  
  
Realizing his house was empty except for their 3 obedient and rather ugly house-elves, Regulus Black left his luggage that had just been dropped off of the car his father had sent for him from the train station, leaving it for the youngest house-elf to care to. He moodily made his way to the kitchen, and munched on something only half made by their only female elf.   
  
Mr. Black was off to Asia for 3 more days, doing business with some of the pureblood families there no doubt, and his wife…she was probably off at the Malfoys or her sisters having tea, leaving poor Regulus with what could be hardly defined as a warm welcome. That wasn't the thing that bothered him though, he was far used to his parents lack of warmth as it was…what was bothering him was the lack of his older brothers presence. Sure Sirius always complained on the way home for holidays, sure his pranks were not always very funny (least not to the person getting pranked), and sure there was always more than a few fights concerning Sirius and his parents nearly every night of the break…but he had been there. That was more than Regulus could say about his parents at the moment.  
  
Regulus grimaced at the half raw food he had just tasted, and pushing the dish away he searched the kitchen for some kind of desert, finding a half finished pumpkin pie. The sugary taste of pie brightened his spirit up a bit, just a bit, but he couldn't stop himself from missing Sirius…the brother he had always been so damn jealous of all his life. If Sirius had been there he probably would have told Regulus go suck his wand and kept to his own bedroom for most of the night, drinking most likely, but then there was at least another human being breathing under the same roof. Now there was no one.  
  
Regulus had never really been a big fan of change, but he never realized how miserable things could actually turn out after it. Leaving the plate covered in crumbs, he slowly rose from his chair, and still marveling on his misery he made his way into the hall, the dark green and silver decorations doing nothing to lift his lousy mood. Before he had realized what he was doing, Regulus found himself standing in front of Sirius' door, and with a shaky hand clasped on the doorknob, he lightly pushed it open.  
  
Regulus hadn't spend much time in this room, mainly cause Sirius would've kicked him out, but he remembered when he was younger…before Hogwarts, when he would come into his older brothers' room to wait for Santa Claus together, help Sirius prepare his next prank on their parents, or simply to get Sirius to read books and Quidditch magazines out loud since he didn't know how. He could remember all the times he had spend in this room feeling safe…not that it looked anything like it did 6 years ago.  
  
The walls of Sirius' room were covered in large posters of women Quidditch players from around the world, all dressed in cut, ripped, or two pieced super mini Quidditch robes, each more beautiful than the other. His expensive ancient wooden bookshelves were loaded with everything from thick complex books on advanced magic, to 'Poor Chucky the Charm Master' comics. A matching dresser stood on the opposite side of the wall with Sirius' super large magical radio (the one he had gotten as a birthday present years ago from Mr. Black) on the top, and its many speakers scattered around. A large king sized bed made of the same dark wood of the bookshelf was placed in middle of the room, with its cream and brown blankets and pillows disarrayed. Even from where he stood he could see all the empty alcohol bottles lying on the ground beside the bed, as well as scattered Quidditch and PlayWizard magazines. The messiest of all though was the rich wooden floor and the beautiful carpet that rested there. Neither was visible through the piles of clothes and robes, disarrayed books, wrappers of junk food, small bags of spilling flo powder as well as Gallons, dirty goblets and plates, and half burned stuff Sirius had set on fire by accident…or most likely on purpose.  
  
Though incredibly messy, Sirius' room still looked very cool, just like everything else about Sirius…no matter what Sirius did, he could do no wrong. How was Regulus supposed to keep himself from jealousy when his older brother had absolutely everything? Sirius was extremely handsome, smart without having to try too hard, creative, brave, strongly magical, fun…Regulus had hated his bitter jealousy towards his own brother, but it never faded. Not even when Regulus had managed to get into Slytherin after Sirius had arrogantly let his parents down, and winning over their favor!  
  
Regulus picked up a set of photographs, glaring at James Potter's grinning face…he could remember the Christmas after Sirius' first year of Hogwarts, the way his brother would not shut up about his dumb friends Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew…but most of all James! If Sirius and James had been close as kids, they had become joined at the hips by the time they had roomed together in Gryffindor. Nevertheless Regulus had always felt the need to somehow out do Sirius, and the two falling apart, specially after Regulus became a Slytherin, did nothing to help the matters.  
  
  
  
Throwing the pictures away, Regulus snored with bitter laughter. If there was anything he and Sirius ever had in common it was their strong will; Regulus had used it to become the model of a pureblood wizard, everything their parents dreamed to have in their son…and Sirius had used it to become their parents' worst nightmare! While winning their parents' favor had given Regulus a sense of satisfaction, it drove his brother much farther away from him. He could never think back of Sirius' disgust at it all, without his stomach churning uncomfortably. If he hadn't been so envious, if he hadn't fallen to his parent's trap so horribly…if he hadn't been so determined his parents had it right and Sirius was just being stubborn…he could've taken Sirius' side in their last fight, then maybe he would've still had his older brother with him! The brother he missed so very much…for nearly 6 years now.  
  
***  
  
  
  
"Dad," James carried on, "we could really use you're help on it…"  
  
"How far have you two gone with the book?" Mr. Potter asked rubbing his short well styled beard thoughtfully as he looked through the notes James had just handed him.  
  
"How clever are we!" Sirius said, his proud voice causing a smile to form on Mr. Potter's face.  
  
"Very," he replied his head still in the notes, "some of this stuff…it would take me a long to time to get through as well!"  
  
"Brilliant right? Specially all the things we learned about time travel!!!" James was practically bursting to try and built the things only a numbered amount of people could ever make, Sirius' grin was just as wide and bursting with excitement.  
  
"And work with the elements…by using these we could become so damn powerful!"  
  
"Yes," Mr. Potter said suddenly, and motioned the boys to sit down and after putting the notes down, he picked up the heavy book and began flipping through it, pausing at a page, "hmmm, not enough at all…tell me, what else have you boys learned about death?"  
  
"The body is left behind much like old clothes," James said.  
  
"The soul goes to another place," Sirius said.  
  
"Some wait as ghosts, some watch over us, and others sleep."  
  
"All are waiting for a day they seem to think of like a judgment day."  
  
"The dead can be contacted with…through the very few portals of death."  
  
"But if one passes the portals…they will have sure death!"  
  
Mr. Potter smiled in an amused sort of way, looking through the book one more time he turned to the boys.  
  
"You know that I spend a few short years working in the department of magic before my father passed away and I had to take his place in our company. I think you boys have achieved a lot out of this book, but I have much to add on."  
  
"Tell us then father!" James demanded and Mr. Potter's smile grew.  
  
"Let's start with death, so far the one you seem to understand least of all. Whenever there is a death…a new portal forms (we still do not know how!) ready to take in the soul of the dead, when the body can no longer hold on to it. The people deaths happed around rarely do notice it, since their minds are too full of emotions or thoughts, and it takes a lot of concentration to being able to find the portal. If someone who is not dead manages to find it…they will likely step through and die, like you said, but we've found out that…" Mr. Potter sighed as though not sure he should say this to two boys of 16, "I go to the department often as I am still a part of it, and through spies and history studies, we've been able to find that the ancient Egyptians had some sort of magical energy that is able to open a portal, in such a way that the souls would be able to escape and take hold of a new body, or an old one and just merely fix it!"  
  
"How bout those who are sucked in with their whole body?" Sirius asked curiously.  
  
"Their bodies are left behind in the entrance of the portal, they might be able to regain them instead of finding another to fix through magic."  
  
  
  
Sirius and James exchanged awed looks, then turned back to Mr. Potter with identical large grins.  
  
"Tell us more!" James demanded.  
  
"Yes, you know so much Mr. Potter, it's mind bottling you're brain is the same size as everyone else's'," Sirius flashed him his most charming smile, making Mr. Potter chuckle as he placed the notes on the desk behind him.  
  
"Very well, but everything I tell you is a summery and description not a manual…that you need to figure out yourselves. How bout we get into the planets a bit?" he asked the two boys and chuckled once again, seeing their abnormally large smiles double in width.  
  
  
  
***   
  
"You don't have to be so fucking touchy bout it!" Ariadne snapped at Severus who like her had stayed behind during the holidays…and unlike her was determined to be miserable about it! She had just tried to make small talk, he could at least be civil…after all, most guys would love to be included in a conversation with her…or so she had thought. The kids at Hogwarts weren't at all like she had expected, especially the Slytherins… Rabastan and Evan were too cold for their own good. Her seductive method hadn't exactly failed, but none had fallen helpless to her feet, and that was not usual!   
  
  
  
Then there was Snape, the boy who outright refused her!!! Ariadne had never thought that possible…but it was true. Severus Snape had stopped her the second she had reached for his pant zipper, calling her a dirty whore! It had been shocking and embarrassing, and Snape ignoring her had been no treat either, though she just couldn't figure out why he had said no…why not have just have used her like Evan had? She couldn't have described the shame she faced in those few minutes even if she tried…it was too horrible! But Ariadne wasn't one to dwell on the past, even if it made her teeth clench to move on…so she had tried to act civil towards Severus, but it seemed as though he wasn't so forgetting.   
  
"Touchy?" Severus snored, "you're one to talk!"  
  
"Right…I forgot. It's alright Snape, I understand how you feel…I was once a virgin too!" having had to cover her emotions for so long, it came almost natural to Ariadne now. Snape's eye however twitched, giving her the satisfaction of touching a nerve.  
  
"What, when you were 5?" he said coldly, turning back to his heavy transfiguration text book, "why don't you just leave, maybe you can convince the 3rd years to pay you a few knuts, who knows how much you can make out of sex."  
  
"I'm sick of you're immature jokes Snape! I thought there was another sixth year left here, but it looks like I was wrong!" Ariadne said getting up swiftly, and made her way out of the Slytherin. While still in an outrage she walked passed the library, but was all of a sudden stopped by Dumbledore himself, who ushered her into his office.  
  
Staring into those searching blue eyes, Ariadne tried to keep her cool as she leaned back on her chair, not that it worked. She had a feeling Dumbledore could read her mind, and the thought of someone doing such things brought chills to her very bones.   
  
"I have been hearing much about you, Ms Ariadne," Dumbledore said softly, though his voice held no accusations, she still couldn't help herself feeling some what ashamed of her behavior and felt her cheeks grow warm.  
  
"What sorts of things," she tried her best calm voice, which was rather squeaky, none of her cool tactics seemed to work around this particular headmaster.   
  
"Of you're making friends fast, with many Slytherin none the less. I must say, you have some of your father in you," Dumbledore wasn't even looking at her now, but staring at the library door, but Ariadne still felt his eyes on her.  
  
"Is that so?" her voice was lacking emotion, though inside it was quite the opposite. While Ariadne was bubbling in anger to be compared to the Dark Lord, she was also swelling in pride…she had been called great in most ways than one.  
  
"Yes, but I like you to be careful. While it may be fun and brilliant to make such strong allies for yourself, you may also be stepping deeper and deeper into a trap. A trap that might not be so easy to get out when the time comes when you want to do so." Dumbledore said all this very casually, as though talking about the weather, Ariadne on the other hand felt her insides freeze, though what he had said sent waves of confusion washing over her, a tiny part knew exactly what he had meant and it scared her in a way nothing had ever before.  
  
"I don't understand," she whispered, but even she could hear the lie loud and clear in her voice. Dumbledore just gave her a brief smile.  
  
"Maybe you'll be strong enough to help him too," he murmured before walking passed her with a swift departing nod, all before what he had said had hit Ariadne.  
  
Eyes popping out, Ariadne turned around to find the hall empty, and frustrated she stomped her foot on the ground, growling, "NOT HIM! I refuse to have anything to do with him…no guy is gonna touch my life in anyway, you hear that Dumbledore!" an odd stare from 2 passing 2nd years shut her up, making her turn a shade of red, though that did little for her temper. 


	19. Santa's Special Treats

Disclaimer: I own nuttin.  
  
A/N: Thanx for all the reviews, I noticed you guys like the whole Remus Hermione thing….and I was wondering if you still wanted me to keep my original idea of adding Sirius to the mix a little later on….Anyway glad your all still reading this fic!!! Acacia Jules I kinda get what you mean about new characters taking over and it getting annoying, but most of my so call 'new' characters are all old HP characters that are known as evil or heroes and just not talked about too much. I'll be careful to stop them from taking over, but it's rather hard not to not give them larger parts since the number of female main characters are only about 2, Lily and Herm…don't you think the story would go boring fast with only two girls and a whole buncha guyz? But I get what you mean, and really my new characters are not there to take over the fic, but to compliment the main characters…I'll just be careful to stand more clear to that.  
  
Ooooh n by the way I was really confused on the James' place in the Quidditch team…in the movie they said he was a seeker, and in the books they never said anythin' except in book 5 where he was playing with the snitch, so I naturally figured he was a seeker…well it's too late to change that now. :( By the way if you guyz r confused about something ask about it, don't just put in a 'Huh?' cuz then I wouldn't know what ur not getting. Now letz hope u like this chappie…..it's a little darker and a bit confusing, but bare with me through this and in the next chapter everything is going to be explained. All I can say is keep your eyes open!  
  
Lily smiled at her middle aged mother through the mirror. Though a few wrinkles touched her pale face, Mrs. Evans was still a very beautiful women with her natural looking golden highlights, full shapely mouth, and almond shaped green eyes identical to her daughters'. At a short glance, anyone who wasn't blind would easily realize that the two women were mother and daughter, both stunningly beautiful with their heart shaped faces and creamy smooth skin…but the sight of her mother in the mirror wasn't what had made Lily smile.   
  
After spending months away from home since summer vacation, having you're mother's soft fingers caressing your hair became a very pleasant experience. Sure Hogwarts was great, amazing more like it, and Lily could use her wand to make her hairstyle gorgeous in seconds…but somehow it was much more special to let her mother take her time and straighten it for her. Seeing her mother's glossy lips for a smile, only made hers larger…until she saw the small twinkle of uncertainty in the other woman's eyes.  
  
"Mom…" Lily wasn't sure how to began, and thankfully Mr. Evans shook her head slightly, her smile disappearing.  
  
"Dumbledore already explained to me just how important it is. I promise I wont try to stop you," she said, her hands now caressing Lily's hair more rapidly, the way she always did when she was anxious or upset, "I just want you…I need you to promise you wont get into it until you learn exactly what it is, I rather die than have anything hap—"   
  
"I can't," Lily cut her off, her eyes burning into the mirror as she watched her mothers rosy glow fade bit by bit, "I'm the first…and as much as I wish for it to be different, it wont. I'm going to have jump into the ocean in pitch black, knowing nothing…but learning as I keep swimming through." Mr. Evans looked like she was about to say something, but did not know quite how to put it out, and Lily just smiled at her, "like Christopher Columbus, I have to sail forward, not knowing what awaits ahead…think of our world now mother. What if he had been too much of a coward to do such thing? What if what I discover, whatever it is, what if it helps people…saves them of the horror going around?"  
  
"Oh Lily," Mrs. Evans' usually strong voice shook, "there are wizards much more powerful, older, and wiser who'd have a better chance with this!"  
  
"No!" Lily said stubbornly and wheeled around to face her shaken mother, "this is my job! I have to do this, me…I know it!"  
  
"Why do you say this? You are only a child, not even of age…even by magic standards!" Mrs. Evans said trying to put her arms around her daughter, but Lily instantly backed away.  
  
"And you think Voldemort would care? Huh? You think he would care that I am child…you don't think he'd kill any child as easily as his other victims? It doesn't matter that I'm only 16 mother. What matters is that me, a child might be able to help Dumbledore save people…maybe one day defeat Voldemort!" as her mother broke down into sobs Lily felt a horrible tingle of guilt, but she didn't regret what she had said, no matter how horrible…the truth should never be ignored. Instead she stood up and embraced her mother, now her turn to caress the other woman's red gold hair. "I'm strong mom, please believe in me."  
  
***  
  
  
  
James bit his lip thoughtfully, watching his mother across the dining room table as she stared at Harry. He couldn't help but feel this odd sensation, something swimming through his blood stream. He wasn't exactly jealous, mystified was more like it…the way she looked at that boy, it was the way she looked at James himself, only more intensely.  
  
"I've totally made up my mind", Sirius hissed making James jump, and by the grin on his face it was obvious it had been his intention, "Harry is really you're twin…must've gotten adopted at birth or something!"  
  
"Sure looks like it," James sighed turning back to his food.  
  
James just couldn't figure out what in the world was going on between his mother, father and their attitude towards Harry! When he had confronted them with their OVER compassion towards such a far-away family, they had given his some crap about business in France and how every relation would come in handy from time to time. James though didn't believe a word, he knew there was a line between being friendly hosts and very nearly rocking a strange boy on your knee as you fed him spoonfuls of honey. The way their eyes sparkled and faces glowed whenever Harry talked or smiled, made the cross over that line very obvious indeed. James hadn't figured out what was going on yet, but Sirius' theory suddenly didn't seem so far-off, after all they certainly did treat Harry like a long-lost son.  
  
"Dumbledore!" Mrs. Potter gasped, and James quickly turned around to see Dumbledore's head in their fireplace. Not a very common thing…perhaps the squealing floor charm he and Sirius had left behind before the break was more serious than the two had originally thought!  
  
"I apologize for catching you off guard Merriam, but sudden events have pushed me to move fast and without any warnings," Dumbledore explained smiling politely at her and merrily waving at others and wishing them merry Christmas as though nothing would make him any more pleased, and Mrs. Potter just laughed.  
  
"It's quite alright, but I do hope it's good news that brought you here," she said still smiling, though it disappeared as a somber look formed on Dumbledore's face, "I understand."  
  
"I'm gonna have to ask Estean to come with me…he might not be able to make it back tonight for any kind of parties Merriam. I would make it different if I could, but we're desperately going to need him tonight…I apologize for the destruction I've caused to you're evening." Dumbledore's somber face now watched them sympathetically, and seeing his mother's face fall, James half expected her to Jump into the fire at Dumbledore. Instead though, Mr. Potter just shook her head and smiled warmly at Dumbledore.  
  
"Oh Dumbledore, do you think any of us would put a silly little party ahead of lives of others who are in danger? I more than expected this, after all Voldemort seems to take a great deal of pleasure out of attacking during celebrations and holidays, as though planning to crush hope just when it first blooms…is there anything you want me to do?" Mrs. Potter said firmly, looking as though she would clime mount Everest 3 times and come back to swim across the Atlantic Ocean on top of that if Dumbledore asked her to do so.  
  
"Actually yes! What I need from you is extremely important, though it might take some time…" Dumbledore smiled at her eagerness and went on, "I'm going to have an owl sent to you with a certain letter, when I contact you again later in the evening, I want you to be ready to use you're relations and resources and spread it around, though in a very casual non-suspicious manner, to the people I have enlisted for you. Be very careful, I would not advise it for one to be able to trace even a single line of that information back to you!"  
  
"Done." Mrs. Potter said not a weak trace in her voice, and getting up she smiled at Dumbledore again, "I'll go get Estean just now. You want to meet him in the usual place, right?"  
  
"If it's no trouble," Dumbledore bowed his head slightly, and with one last wave, left the chimney burning merrily with enchanted golden fire.  
  
"Brighten up James," Sirius said softly, "You're mom said my uncle Alfred was supposed to come tonight, he'll take our minds off of it with half a cup of his special drinks!"  
  
"Yeah, sure." James said with forced brightness. It hadn't been the first time his parents had to take on dangerous tasks for Dumbledore, and sure he was worried about them…but not nearly as worried he was for the people Voldemort was planning to attack! His parents were clever and strong, but how bout the kids that were going to be slain tonight for no reason but just to help Voldemort demonstrate his reign of terror even more horribly. James didn't know what to do if tonight it was someone he knew who got hurt, he felt sick just thinking about it, but if it did happen, he would rip Voldemort's skeleton like face right open!   
  
***  
  
"WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO DAMN MUCH?" Lily screamed, feeling as though nothing would please her anymore than punching her horse-faced sister in the face very many times.  
  
"Why do I hate you? You really want to know, THEN FINE BY ME! I HATE YOU FOR BEING A DISGUSTING FREAK OF NATURE, AND FOR ME BEING THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SEE THAT! FOR ALL THE FAKE SWEET LOVING DAUGHTER ACT YOU PUT ON FOR MOM AND DAD, YOU CERTAINLY DON'T FOOL ME!!! YOU…YOU FILTHY WITCH!!!!!" Petunia screamed back just as loud if not louder, her words barely hurting Lily, who had heard them far too often since returning from Hogwarts, yet they did manage to anger her, so much so she was barely aware as she picked up the closest thing on her dresser and flung it at Petunia.  
  
"You never know when to shut up, do you, you stupid fucking bitch!" Lily said bitterly as the bottle of make-up remover hit her sister right between the eyebrows, trying to hide regretting what she had done. Not for long though, letting out a loud animal-like growl Petunia jumped on top of Lily, scratching punching, and elbowing whatever she could. Getting over her momentarily shock, Lily fought back just as savagely, that was until she heard her father's angry voice shouting at the pare of them, and getting between the two girls.  
  
"Just what the hell do you two think you're doing?" Mr. Evans asked his face red with anger, his gray hair not making him look any less dangerous than a raging bear. Sucking on her bottom lip to stop it from bleeding, Lily tried to look sorry, Petunia however was burning red with anger, still glaring intently at her younger sister.  
  
"SHE THREW THAT AT MY HEAD!!!!" Petunia shrieked barely glancing at their father, Mr. Evans however wasn't gonna take any of it.  
  
"I don't care! Nothing, and I mean NOTHING gives the two of you any right to attack each other in such vicious manner. Sisters fighting like a pare of wild animals in the jungle…it's absolutely disgusting!!! You two carry on like this and me and your mother will find a way to make you regret ever using a sharp tongue towards one another! If you refuse to stop acting like savages I'm going to send you back to your boarding schools this very night!!!" Petunia didn't seem to have taken any of what her father had just said, and instead pushed away from him standing up as she still glared at Lily, who had been pretending to not notice it.  
  
"I'd rather be in school right now than have to put of with this disgusting freak of nature for another second!" She said angrily before turning and running out of Lily's room.  
  
"I'm sorry dad," Lily said, and for that moment she felt sympatric towards him for having to put up with the mess between her and Petunia. Mr. Evans smiled tiredly.  
  
"I know. I hope she'll be able to move past all the jealousy and hatred she has for you, I just don't know how to make that happen."  
  
"There is nothing you can do dad…sometimes I think about how I can make things better, but everything I've tried has failed with her." Lily tried to smile at him, but it came out looking very strained and fake, "but I wont stop, I promise to do whatever I can to help it dad. You and mom certainly don't need this, you really deserve better daughters."  
  
Mr. Evans just smiled at her again, this time more lovingly, and gently brushed away a few strands of red hair from her forehead, "there is nothing more anyone can wish for than a daughter like you Lils, I just wish Petunia knew how lucky she is to have a sister like you!"  
  
***   
  
Antonin Dolohov felt the horrible need to grimace, yet he tried his best not to. Never show any emotion standing in this circle of doom, it was some kind of an unspoken rule they all tried to abide by…unless they were being tortured or rewarded. He did not know who the rather short spy was, but the well hooded and masked man had news that wouldn't be considered in any way beneficiary to Voldemort, and the last thing he wished to see at the moment was Voldemort's reaction, yet from where he could see, that skeleton face looked stone like, as though the shorter man had not spoken at all.  
  
"So, Dumbledore's managed to find one of the talent I so desperately have been searching for, now has he?" his voice was a soft sheet on the surface with an ice bed raging in cold fury right beneath it.   
  
"H-he is not s-so sure m-m-master," the man very visibly shook, "T-they c-could just have b-been lucky a f-f-few t-times—"   
  
"Very well," Voldemort cut him off, his eyes not different from ice mountains, and his smile even colder, "it does not matter what you think! What I want to know is how important this is to Dumbledore…how far will he go to protect her." He laughed in manner that was almost amused, "As you all know tonight is Christmas Eve…and we're all going to be rather busy…thought I don't want this matter with Dumbledore's smart little discovery go very far. I want a little test done, if it is passed than I'm going to have to sent reinforcements the very next morning…yet if it is failed it means Dumbledore is a fool, absolutely aloof to the possibilities at hand…in which case I'll do what must be in that case."   
  
  
  
Voldemort passed around the inside of the large circle, with a semi-smirk on his face, one that sent chills down the spine of whomever he passed plus ten others on either side. Suddenly he stopped and right in front of Antonin, who felt his chest clasp together and his heart jabbing at his chest painfully as though trying to escape, though Voldemort seemed to barely notice. That horrible face of his formed itself into an even more horrible smile, or a pale shadow of a smile, since his was neither warm or friendly, but like a terrifying lightning storm as thought it could strike you dead before you'd even realized it. "The religious fools may not be so foolish after all. Christmas is the most pleasant time of the year, specially when Santa hands out gifts to everyone. This year thought it's all going to be handed out when they're all awake and ready to appreciate it! Merry Christmas my loyal death eaters, may you find double the number of usual holiday victims…and keep in mind that Santa has a present for you all, one that you will surely like very much, and you will see it for all its beauty tomorrow morning. Right after a whole night of fun and death."   
  
Antonin shakily searched for his wand inside his robes, trying to block out Voldemort's terrible cackles from frightening him. Though some else was arousing the fear at that moment…he like every other death eater present feared what Voldemort had in store for them. Sure the Dark Lord had said it as thought it was something to bring them pleasure, but with him you would never know, after all watching others suffer was his favorite pastime…Antonin just couldn't help being anxious over what was to come the next day. 


	20. Terrible Lonliness

Disclaimer: I wished I owned a lot of things….but too bad, cause I own nothing!   
  
A/N: Thanx for your reviews guys!!!!! Glad you thought the last chapi was scary…but the horrible night ends by the end of this one! Sorry I can take too long with my chappies…I'll try my best anyway. The thing I have to beware you of is the increase in the violence and darkness in the story, for a few chappies anyway, but after all Voldemort ruled in Marauder era! Anyway thanx again, and since I'm kinda of a hopless romantic I have to add in romance somewhere, so don't worry, it won't ALL be violence! ^_^   
  
The heater in the Evan's beautiful house was turned up high, yet Lily Evans couldn't help but feel chilly. Rubbing her arms to make her goosbumps disappear, she plastered a fake cheerful smile across her face. It was Christmas Eve…and things couldn't get any worst. The Evans beautiful house was decorated in the beautiful red and gold decorations, and soft music played quietly…but something was missing, or more accurately someone.   
  
  
  
The Evans were all trying their hardest to seem cheerful, though the fake smiles and the forced conversation did nothing to change the dull mood. Lily had never thought Petunia's absence would feel so empty, she couldn't remember a time when she had wanted her older sister to take up the seat across from her so desperately…though something on her parents grim faces made her suspicious. It was like there was a little voice mumbling in the back of Lily's head, as though she knew something was going on…but trying to find out what it was, was nearly impossible.  
  
Taking a sip of her eggnog, Lily silently studied her parent's sad smiles…those eyes…they knew something…but before Lily had the chance to try to figure out what was going on or even settle her glass down, there was a sudden wave of cold, so chilling Lily felt spooked. As though that wasn't enough to freak her out, all the lights went out as well…the blackness darker than Lily had ever seen before…but it wasn't until she felt happiness slip away from her, when a scream left her lips.   
  
Her whole body shaking Lily heard a woman shriek and glass braking, barely aware of the warm blood running down her hands, she ripped her wand out of her pocket whispering a spell quickly. The sudden light that appeared at the tip of her wand revealed an image Lily knew would hunt her forever…a horrible face, though it really was not, since it only held a giant gaping mouth…a rotting hand clutching her long pale throat…Watching it lower it's head as though giving her mother a kiss, Lily felt her knees buckle, yet something kept her from falling to the floor. She wasn't sure how she did it, but Lily's grip firmed around her wand and she started screaming out curses…ones she had practiced in class…ones she had only read about in books. Anything that came to mind, Lily tried it all…but nothing so much as fazed that disgusting creator…she didn't even understand what the hell was going on. She felt as though her body was draining, hope had been long gone…but something in Lily's body kept her going even though her body was screaming out to just blackout and give into peace.  
  
  
  
Crying out in frustration and horror, Lily did the only thing she could think of…the very last thing she could do…she ran for the dark cloaked creator, attacking it as hard as she could! Pain spread through Lily, as her body collided with the monsters', it was like crashing into a solid wall of metal…though Lily paid no mind to it, her eyes locked on her mother, now released from the creators grip. Getting to her feet with lightening like speed she threw her arms around the older women, but it didn't feel right…as though she was hugging something dead. Slowly Lily pulled away, even more chilled now…and saw a pair of green eyes so empty they would make pit less holes seem overflowing.  
  
"Daaaad," she pushed the hollow body away, feeling shock waves wash through her, "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaad."  
  
Her horror only doubled when she realized her father never answered, when she realized he was just standing there…expressionless…not too far away from another one those terrifying creators. Lily felt her body freeze up in fear, but exhaustion took over instead…the strain of horrifying pictures that passed in front of her was too great, with nothing to hold her standing Lily fell to the floor. With nothing to get her to keep fighting her mind blanked just as blackness became all that existed.  
  
***  
  
"James!" Sirius cried out, staring at the frozen owl in surprise, "What the hell are you doing?"  
  
"That's Dumbledore's owl," James said, caressing the now stone like snowy owl in his arms. Seeing the confused look on his friends' faces, he sighed in frustration, "it's the owl with the important news for my mom!"  
  
"And…?" Ron stared at him dumbfounded, making James throw up his arms and glare at them all.  
  
"I bet my best broomstick that it says the name of every family attacked tonight…I can't take the suspense for much longer. What if it's the Prewett's house tonight? Or someone else we know???"   
  
"James…it's probably too late by now," Sirius said quietly, nevertheless he barely gave James the chance to speak before he had the letter untangled from the owl's foot himself, "not that we shouldn't try to help anyway!"  
  
"Thanks mate," James said gratefully, and eagerly watched Sirius' face as he began to read…watched as his best friend's handsome face lost all it's color. A shiver running through him, James opened his mouth to ask whom it was…when he noticed Sirius' hands trembling, his own began to as well.  
  
"It's her…there was an attack in a muggle city…it was Lily," Sirius barley whispered, but James felt every word slice through him like white hot knives. Struggling to breath, James squeezed his eyes shut and got bombarded with horrifying images. Every second that passed felt like long anguishing years, every thought more horrible than the last.  
  
"We have to go find her," James said numbly. Barely aware of his body or that he had spoken at all, he grabbed his wand, and pointed it at his head, but something stopped his arm mid air. Looking up James' eyes met Sirius' flashing black ones.  
  
"I'm coming with you," he said simply, his voice not hard nor soft…just a little hopeless.   
  
"Sure," James managed to choke out; he couldn't understand why his throat was so dry.  
  
"I'm coming too!" a different voice called out, this one however shook like crazy.  
  
"No, stay here!" James said so suddenly he felt a little surprised he had spoken at all.  
  
"I said I'm coming too! You can really use my help…trust me!" James snorted at that, barely aware of the hurt look that appeared on the other boy's face…so much like his own.  
  
"Stay here kid, I don't wanna have to worry about keeping you safe too!"  
  
"Let him come James," Sirius said quietly making James stare at him, and he nodded his head slightly, "we can use his help."  
  
"We're coming too!!!" this time it was a girl's voice.  
  
"Yeah, we're really good—"   
  
"No! Ron, Hermione…stay here," Harry cut them off, a sad pleading look on his face, "please."  
  
  
  
"Follow me then," James called, barely waiting to see the two grim nods, and dashed out of the room, "My father has a various collection of portkeys in his office…hurry up, we don't want to be late!" While to his ears that sounded right, deep down he couldn't help but to wonder if it was already much too late…  
  
***  
  
Lily awoke to find the most beautiful face she had ever seen staring down at her…at that moment his soft hazel eyes were her gateways to heaven. She blinked a few times enjoying the feeling of his strong arms around her, her dream come true, not knowing where and how she was there…though not caring much.  
  
  
  
Too bad the blissful moment was just that, a short moment. Too short in Lily's opinion since it didn't take long at all for all the horrid memories to return to her. In a flash she was back to the darkness, gazing into her mother's glassy eyes…and once again resting in James' arms.  
  
Feeling rather dizzy Lily tried to sit up, listening to the dim shrieking in the back of her head. She realized she didn't feel very cozy anymore, if anything she thought her very blood was ice cold within her veins. Though the way James held her body against his, something within Lily grew warm…something she didn't think she deserved at all. Pushing him away from her, she managed to pull away…the hurt expression on his face stabbing a hole through her heart.  
  
"Are you alright Lily?" asked a soft female voice, and as she turned, Lily found herself staring at a pretty woman with light brown hair.  
  
  
  
Her mouth too dry to answer Lily just gave the smallest of nods. The woman's voice had snapped her out of a numb daze, as now Lily realized she and James weren't the only ones there, in fact there were others…faces Lily didn't bother studying…faces that would very likely be only a blur by the next day. Yet she recognized the room. It was half destroyed…but there was no mistaking the room she had been in the night before…the room in which she had seen those creatures…where she had lost her parents…NO!  
  
"NO!" Lily was surprised that she had screamed that out loud, making a few people jump, though she paid them no mind. Instead she glared at the older woman, "what the hell are you doing here??? You should be out hunting and KILLING those fucking monsters!!! You HAVE to go find my parents, they need help, I think the black cloak things did something to them…WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR???? GO AND HELP MY PARENTS!!!!!!"  
  
"Your parents are long gone—"  
  
"NO!!! THEY'RE ALIVE, I SAW THEM!!!!! THE CREATURES JUST DID SOMETHING TO THEM, AND YOU CAN FIX THEM!!!!!!!!" Lily felt her throat burning. What the hell did she have to do to convince these people…her parents had been standing the last time she had seen them! No dead people could stand…they we're just a little zoned out. Yet deep within her heart Lily knew the blank eyes on her mother would never again be replaced by her mothers' warm emerald gaze.  
  
"Their bodies are fine, yes. However your parent's souls are long lost." Feeling her heart shatter at these words, a part of Lily still wanted to get up and start screaming and demanding them to help her parents. The voice she had presumed to be soft now was anything but. The woman's words had left some sort of prison around Lily's doubts to the truth offered…Lily would've been impressed had they met another time. Now however something white hot consumed Lily's insides.  
  
Lily was barely aware of her shaking body as she slowly drew herself up, now looking around dimly. A small bit of surprise filled her when her eyes fell on Sirius…they boy who was rarely seen without some sort of smile or smirk…his face so grim Lily felt a stab of sorrow not owned by her parents. There were a lot of people she didn't recognize, and for a second she thought she saw a second James…only realizing it was Harry…yet the expression on his face confused her. Her eyes fell back on James, who had now began to stand as well.  
  
"So," Lily cleared her voice and went on, totally oblivious to the occupants of the room, other than James. She could hear dim familiar voice from another room but that she ignored as well, "So, they l-lost their s-s-souls?"  
  
"I'm sorry," James began, now taking a step towards her and Lily quickly backed away. She felt dirty…she had done nothing to save her parents when it should've been her with the lost soul…she didn't deserve James. Another hurt look passed James' face, though he covered it up quickly and went on, "Dementers are horrid creatures! They guard the wizard prison and drive most of the prisoners crazy in no time at all…they suck all the happiness out of you and make you remember only your most horrible memories. But that's nothing compared to…their worst weapon is…they can steal a person's soul…"   
  
"D-dementers?" a shaky voice asked from behind Lily, who turned around to find her sisters' face paler than she had ever seen it before. If her ghostly complexion was bad, it was nothing compared to Petunia's eyes…so dull and dark…hopeless.  
  
"Are you alright?" another voice asked Petunia from Lily's right.  
  
The blond girl sucked in a gulp of air, looking as though she'd faint any second, and shut her eyes for a moment before zipping up her jacket with shaky hands. Ignoring everyone else in the room, Petunia's eyes fell on Lily, her face so fall of hatred…hatred so strong Lily was sure it would never be resolved or disappear. A sudden smile then formed on the blonde's bony face, a smile so cold and furious it sent shivers down Lily's spine, and as she started talking, her soft icy voice made Lily even weaker in the knees.  
  
"You go and get yourself involved with these dangerous savages…and mom and dad end up paying for it. All those years praising you for you're abnormalities…and this is how you repay them. You are disgusting Lily…you standing there while…mom and dad lost their souls. I HATE you Lily, you were never a sister of mine…and you're DEAD to me!" The volume on Petunia's voice hadn't changed, but the coldness had increased a million times before the girl threw her sister another glare pure with despise and dashed out of the room.  
  
Knowing her sister was right only pained Lily even more. If it hadn't been for her and her involvement with the magical community Voldemort would not have cared enough to send Dementers to the Evans home. If Lily had not been a witch Petunia would've never hated her…and the two wouldn't have made their parents' lives living hell! If Lily had only ignored her letter to Hogwarts…she'd be sitting at the now ruined table sipping eggnog happily with her family, none of which would hate her or be gone…  
  
Lily wavered, before falling to her knees and puking all over the floor. Wiping her mouth with her sleeve she felt a sudden feeling of terrible loneliness, and for the first time hugged her knees as close as possible, letting warm tears flow down her cheeks. 


	21. Empty

Disclaimer: this gets a little annoying after doing it over n over…..oh well, I own nothing, and I doubt I ever will.  
  
Everyone sitting at the large Potter kitchen table quietly watched Lily's exit, none knowing what to do or say. She didn't care though; she barely cared about anything anymore. After what had happened…she wasn't sure she could ever think or feel ever again. It was rather odd, after spending a whole week doing nothing but crying, it seemed that she was finally all cried out. The pain that seemed able to explode her heart only a few days ago was now numbed out…so was everything else. It seemed like it was her body's sick twisted way to deal with all that happened…but if anything, Lily loved the pain better than this horrible feeling of emptiness.  
  
Walking up to her bed, or the one the Potters had given her when Dumbledore decided their house was the best place Lily could spend the rest of her Christmas vacation at. Lily didn't care much though, the Potters were certainly trying their hardest to cheer her up, but everything was nothing more than a gray blur to Lily these days. Her parents were now worst then dead, something she barely understood and that fact made it all a thousand times worst. Then there was Petunia…her only sister who hated her, the girl she had stripped away from her parents…Lily doubted she'd ever forget the hate in those gray eyes.  
  
Shivering slightly, Lily pulled the covers over her body, staring at the blazing fire in the elegant fireplace in front of the bed. Still numb, she didn't hear as Sirius walked into her room, without so much as knock, at least not until he sat on the bed at her feet. She wanted nothing more than to ignore him…but as he just sat there without saying so much as a word she became anxious.   
  
  
  
"Can't you knock," she said in a quiet cold voice, yet he grinned at her shaking his head.  
  
"Nope. It wasn't exactly a requirement where I grew up," Lily wasn't exactly amused, things tended to roll off of her very easily these days…but this was the first time someone had talked to her like this. As if she was just another buddy…not the girl who had just lost both her parents. Yet it wasn't nearly enough to make her smile.  
  
"What do you want Black?" she asked him her voice not so quiet so cold, yet far from soft. Sirius didn't say anything, instead he began studding her face, making her feel as though she wanted to kick herself. He was checking to see if she was ok…probably pitying her, "you know what, I don't think I even wanna know. How about you get out of my room and just leave me the fuck alone. I don't want your pity, your sorrow isn't gonna help me one bit, so just leave before I make you!"  
  
"I don't," Sirius smiled, though it barely looked pleasant. His face was twisted in an ugly grimace now, "but you do!"  
  
"What?" Lily felt as though she wanted to kick him, he started to laugh now. The sound of it was much more bitter than that horrible grimace.  
  
"You had great parents, they're gone now, but you spend 16 years of your life with this amazing family! Some of us would give our whole lives for one day of the love you had…including me. So NO Lily, I don't pity you, if anything I ENVY you for what you had for so long!" Lily wasn't sure she had heard right, lately no one had raised their voice anywhere near her…and Sirius' words were so cold.   
  
"Lily," regret passed through Sirius' eyes, but just as soon as it appeared it was gone, "I hate to tell you this, but you've gotta stop feeling so damn sorry for yourself and wake the hell up! The truth hurts, but you can't afford to hide from it, not in this room or anywhere else for that fact."  
  
"What do you mean," nothing more than a whisper left Lily's lips, but it made Sirius smile, not coldly, but very sad, as he leaned forward his eyes dark and unreadable.  
  
"I mean Voldemort." Lily gasped, feeling cold all over just by hearing that name, "I'm not telling you this to cause you more pain Lily…but I don't want you to be blind to the truth! Voldemort killed you're parents as a way to get you, part of some sort of sick plan of his I suppose, but the fact is he is after you…and I think you know why. But Lily, what will you're parents say if they were watching you, too absorbed in your self pity to get up and fight? He wants you…are you just gonna sit there and cry? Don't you want to keep alive what's most precious to your parents?"  
  
"I…" Lily's throat hurt too much for her to talk much more than a strangled whisper, "don't know how."  
  
"The Potter's are having a party tonight, an annual party with all the pureblood families in Britain invited. It's Mr. Potter's way to keep some kind of an eye on his enemies and make fake friendships. A lot of them support Voldemort Lily…not openly, but some are even deatheaters, a part of Voldemort's inner circle. It's your perfect chance to learn something Lily, act like an airhead…but be very cautious of every word that leaves their mouth. Or even their gestures," Lily was surprised to feel Sirius's fingers on her face, and even more so when she realized it was her tears that he was wiping away, "it could have been much worst Lily…but what happened is done, and you gotta move on…just be careful out there!"  
  
Lily barely had time to gather her thoughts when Sirius was gone, though she realized that the emptiness was full again. The numb pain had now been awakened…but something else nearly as strong was bubbling it's way to the surface. Anger, such that she had never felt before sizzled through her, anger towards herself but mostly at Voldemort…and all those who followed him. Before she could change her mind, Lily jumped to her feet, and looked through her closet surprised to find a whole bunch of beautiful dress robes hung there. Only after a few seconds did she remember Mrs. Potter putting them there as she told her about the party 3 days ago.   
  
A/N: sorry if this chapter is a little short and depressing, I kinda can't write anything too cheerful this week with Kurt Cobain's 10th death anniversary coming up…but anyway I'm glad you all liked the last chapter so much and related to Lily. Harry is still the main character in this story, and yes I know how sometimes that doesn't seem to be the case, but I luv him too and don't worry the next chapter is mainly Harry and Sirius…at the big party of course! As for Dorcas Meadows….well lets just say she has only been mentioned once as a member of the original Order of Phoenix in Moody's pic…this is the quote "that's Dorcas Meadows, Voldemort killed her personally"…doesn't she sound interesting? 


	22. Close to James

Disclaimer: I own nutting.  
  
Hermione twirled around a few times before she was completely satisfied with her reflection. She had never been one to fret over her clothes or looks, but tonight was the very first time she was going to dress up for Remus and she wanted to knock his socks off. The dress Mrs. Potter had given her was made for that very job with its neckline plunging below her bellybutton and the large diamond jewel that made the navy blue material clung tightly to her hips and butt.  
  
"Maybe the slit in the back is going to far," Hermione said, nervously trying to make sure not too much of her legs were going to be exposed, but Mrs. Potter just smiled.  
  
"Sweetie this is one of my finest dresses, no one is going to jump on you or find it indecent, and if they're going to nag on anything mark my words it'll be the neckline," Mrs. Potter walked over to her, standing behind Hermione in front of the mirror. Hermione felt her face go red once more as her gaze fell on the neckline, "the look on Remus' face when his eyes fall on you will be priceless, be sure to take a picture for me."  
  
"Of course," Hermione laughed, enjoying the feeling of Mrs. Potters soft fingers through her bushy hair, "is there something—"  
  
"Your hair is in good hands," Mrs. Potter grinned and with a flicker of her wand, Hermione's bushy brown hair was no more. All of a sudden Hermione face was curtained with locks of shiny highlighted golden brown locks that fell straight and silky blow her shoulders covering her rather exposed cleavage a little.  
  
After twirling around and combing her fingers through her magical locks Hermione finally agreed to go meet everyone else downstairs. As she approach her crowd of friends, she excitedly watched Sirius face form a sexy smile he wore just when he was about to hit on a girl, his eyes traveling from her face to the low neckline and back up with a raised eyebrow, still grinning. The first sight of Sirius as always managed to take Hermione's breath away, as she was sure happened to many other girls, so much that it took a while for her to notice the getup he had on.  
  
When Hermione had stopped drooling, she noticed Sirius wore a huge T- shirt with a comical picture of what a tux front should look like. The rest of the T-shirt was covered in ever-changing prints written in bright pink and orange saying words most people would find rather rude. He matched this up with a large pair of green and orange pajama pants and large worn pink shoes. Hermione let out a yelp of shock, which only made Sirius smile and bow.  
  
"Glad you like my wizard-wear," He grinned at her kissing her hand in mock elegance, making every snore with laughter as he managed quit well.  
  
"And I get no praise?" James asked, pushing Ron and Harry away to allow Hermione a look at his outfit.  
  
Hermione's eyes widened again seeing as James was wearing a formal wizard cloak in electric green with lots of lace and frills. He matched that off with the hot pink tux jacket he wore underneath that could've come from 40 years ago at the least. Instead of pants James had on a pare of yellow boxers baring his legs and knee-high brown socks and blue snickers. Hermione didn't know whether to laugh or not. The getups were kind of funny, but she was sure that under no circumstance would Mrs. Potter allow the two boys step into their famous yearly balls dressed in such way. To Hermione's shock however Mrs. Potter burst in laughter and messed up their heads and gave James a large brown and orange hat made to look like a cartoon prop.  
  
"You forgot this," she placed it on his head, and grinned at Sirius, "remember, your allowed to leave whenever you wish. I got your back tonight!"  
  
"It wont be necessarily Polly," Sirius hugged her, "I'm more than a match for ALL the Blacks, maybe you should look out for them."  
  
"Knowing you that's probably true," she gave him a little peck on the cheek, before looking up at the top of the stairs in surprise then smiled, "looks like Lily decided to join us."  
  
As everyone turned to watch Lily floating down the stairs, Hermione felt a pang of jealousy. Lily's slim figure was clad in rich bronze strapless dressrobes leaving her delicate shoulders and long neck bare. The robes seem to cling on to all the right places, enhancing her full curves and elongating her, making Lily look even more beautiful, though she wore no jewelry except for her small diamond earrings, the ones Hermione knew Lily had gotten as a Christmas present from her mother.  
  
"Lily...you look amazing..." James said breathlessly, and from what Hermione could see he looked to be frozen on the spot.  
  
"Yes, absolutely beautiful," Mrs. Potter went to hug her, and pulled something out of the sleeve of her dress, "I saved this for you."  
  
"I-I can't," Lily's eyes widened as they fell on the gorgeous diamond necklace Mrs. Potter tried to put around her neck, but then her eyes fell on someone else widened again and she allowed the necklace around her neck.  
  
"It's beautiful on you," Mrs. Potter said, and Hermione couldn't agree more, but Lily's smile looked a little fake but she seemed determined to keep it on.  
  
Hermione's eyes fell on Harry dressed in black dressrobes made of rich silks. His eyes were glued on his beautiful mother, he looked a like he was in ecstasy and maybe a little sad. Hermione sighed and stepped on his foot, last thing they needed was Lily thinking Harry was in love with her or something. Letting out a yelp Harry's eyes met Hermione's and he understood as he turned to walk towards the party room. Hermione was about to do the same when she felt a hand on the small of her back sending electric charges through her body. She turned around to find Sirius' smiling face grinning down at her, making her heart stop in its tracks.  
  
"Hermione I want you to keep Harry and Ron out of trouble tonight," Sirius said without a break in his grin, and Hermione started to wonder if it was fake.  
  
"Why?" she asked suddenly afraid that Sirius was about to say Voldemort was planning to attack or something, but he merely shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"The pureblood families have always been separated into two different groups, the ones who relay strongly on tradition and the ones who are much more modern if you know what I mean. It gets kinda ugly from time to time, make sure you 3 stay out of it!"  
  
"O-okay," she said though still rather confused, "wait! Why would Mrs. Potter invite them all if she thought there was gonna be trouble?"  
  
"Ha," Sirius snorted, "the Potters started having these parties just so the others wouldn't and exclude some rival families and make matters worst. Originally events like this are to be peaceful, a break from all the rivalry, a chance to talk things out, but...lets just say Voldemort brings about the art of change."  
  
"You mean—"  
  
"No, he won't come here or anything, at least I sure as hell hope not. No, but a lot of people here are die hard Voldie fans, I'd watch out if I were you!" and with that Sirius flashed her a quick grin and entered the ball room, disappearing behind its heavy doors.  
  
"Mrs. Potter," Lily whispered hoping no one else could hear, "why did you give me this necklace?"  
  
"Can't I lend a beautiful girl a beautiful gift for the ball," she grinned though a second later it looked a bit fake, she grabbed a plate of elegantly wrapped snacks and pretended to offer Lily some, "an heirloom of the Potter family is the greatest protection I can give you right now. If anyone attacks the one wearing it here, they will have not only the Potters but also many other old wizard families at war with them. I want you to keep it on at all costs, it has very ancient curses placed on it to ward off harm from the one wearing it."  
  
"Th-thank you," Lily said quite startled, "I dunno how to—"  
  
"Don't worry about it! Dumbledore asked me to protect you with my life, which I promised to do so. Just keep it, it looks rather lovely on you," she suddenly flashed Lily a mischievous smile that was identical to James' and pressed something hard and small in her hand before disappeared into the crowd.  
  
Feeling the cool object in her hands Lily smiled. Mrs. Potter didn't have to tell Lily what to do next, she was smart enough to figure out the only way she would be able to engage herself in any kind of conversation in a party such as this. Smoothing an escaped piece of hair back into her bun, Lily searched for James with her eyes, and when she finally found him she immediately went to his side and slipped her arms around him burying her face on his shoulder. Ignoring James' surprised look she began to speak in a very low whisper.  
  
"I need you to pretend we're engaged."  
  
"What?!" James sounded a little breathless as Lily pressed the ring Mrs. Potter had given her in his hand.  
  
"When I let go I want you to slip this on my finger and make a show of asking me to marry you."  
  
"But...Lily we're only sixteen..."  
  
"If you don't then everyone will be suspicious of the heirloom around my neck and me even being here which would put your entire family in danger!" she felt James' body tighten as these words, and took it as a yes answer pulling away swiftly with a pleased smile on her lips.  
  
"You got your wish Evans," James grinned, "I'll make a big show out of it!"  
  
True to his word James managed to get everyone's attention and got on one knee making a huge deal out of asking Lily to be his wife. The crowd gasp and mutters about the two being too young for such things spread, but there were also those whose eyes filled with tears and clapped and smiled and showered complements at the couple, as well as those who were dark in the face and disgusted that a Potter was going to taint it's pureblood with a muggleborn. Nevertheless in the end claps and cheers filled the hall, whether it was real or fake.  
  
"Yes," Lily exclaimed again and though she knew it was fake, the spark in James' hazel eyes took her breath away getting her lost in the moment, as if James Potter had actually meant what he had just said.  
  
"For real?" James asked and Lily half speechless nodded quickly.  
  
"Of course," Lily said and suddenly knelt down next to James and kissed him with more passion than she could remember kissing anyone ever before.  
  
Though shocked at first, James responded pretty quickly and wrapped his arms around Lily, caressing her gently. For that moment Lily was lost in the kiss, her mind absolutely blank except for the fact that she was kissing James Potter, forgetting that this was all fake and just enjoying the feeling of his soft lips brushing against hers. The heat of the moment seemed to have possessed James as well, since Lily could feel the longing behind his kiss, as though he had been waiting a long time to do this. It was strange that here they were, in front of hundreds of people, many of which who didn't like either of them very much, faking their love for one another while the truth was each felt something very strong, something that hadn't come out until this very moment.  
  
Pulling away slowly, Lily was still a bit dazed though her cheeks burned red as she heard a few people whistling, after all that kiss had been very hot. She let her eyes wander around the crowd and they fell on Sirius, Harry and the rest of her friends who stared her dumbstruck. Flashing them the most dazzling smile she could manage, she smoothed her bronze dress and allowed herself to be swept away in the crowd of smiling witches hugging her and showering the couple with complements and well wishes.  
  
In some weird way Lily was beginning to enjoy all the attention and the praising thought some of it she was sure was fake, especially from the families like the Malfoys and Wilkes. It was as though she was 6 once again and playing bride, and boy was it fun. James stood firmly by her side, occasionally kissing her on her cheek or softly caressing her back. For a little while everything was wonderful, though it was nothing more than a disguising game Lily still managed to enjoy herself greatly, specially the feeling of being held so closely by James.  
  
Sirius sent Lily a grin from across the room when his eyes caught hers. He was incredibly impressed by Lily's brain, though shocked at first about the whole engagement thing he managed to figure everything out pretty quickly and realized that the next time he had any kind of problem it was Lily whom he was gonna go to for help. In a way he felt bad that his best friend was being used like this, but knowing James for so long assured Sirius that he was enjoying every moment of this by his crooked smile.  
  
Those two were quite a sight together, Lily looking like a goddess and James like a...well there was really no word to describe how ridiculous James looked, but nevertheless both were grinning their heads off, something Sirius was sure to be real. While many were raving on and on about how cute the two looked together, there were also those like Mrs. Malfoy and Mrs. Rosier who weren't so pleased about another pureblood family opening its doors to a muggleborn. Those were of course the people that were secretly hexed by Sirius to either gain 40 pounds or to lose their hair in about an hour's time.  
  
Still grinning Sirius ran into Ron and Harry who were very round eyed. Sirius knew he couldn't tell them the truth, well at least not yet, and so he just raved on and on about James always making momentary decisions.  
  
"Tell me about it," Gideon snorted as he joined their conversation patting Sirius on top of the head, "nice lil outfit you got there."  
  
"Thanks mate, it sure as hell beats yours," Sirius patted him right back on the head, "got a quill? Wanna sign my shirt?"  
  
"Sure, so long as I get to talk to you alone for a sec," Gideon said looking rather serious which was a rare thing for him.  
  
"Whaaat? You told me that WASN'T illegal!" Sirius waved away Ron and Harry's surprised looks.  
  
"Not about that! And it really wasn't illegal; get it through your thick head," Gideon whacked Sirius before dragging him away to a corner.  
  
"What Mr. Prewett, the hell do you want? You look kind of shitty!"  
  
"Ha ha Sirius, very funny. Sirius, did you give the potion I gave you to Evans?" Gideon eyes were locked into Sirius' who shifted uncomfortably.  
  
"Ya...but I just gave her enough for tonight and left a note with it!" Gideon's cheeks reddened and his reptilian eyes flashed with anger.  
  
"Sirius that stuff is seriously addictive and not to mention extremely dangerous! You told me you were gonna use it in an experiment, now the poor girl—"  
  
"I HAD to!" Sirius cut him off, "this is her only chance to find out what the hell is going on and how to save herself, she can't afford to let pain to get in the way, and she needs to be a 100% focused tonight! Besides I made sure the amount I gave her was exact, I even explained all the dangers in the note."  
  
"The girl is hurt over what happened to her parents, she'd take the foulest poison to get rid of her pain—"  
  
"Lily's stronger than that," Sirius said simply, smiling at her across the room where she and her fiancé were engaged in a conversation with the Wilkes, "how'd you guess anyway?"  
  
"Rosy cheeks, sparkling eyes...not exactly symptoms of a girl who's just lost both her parents in a dementor attack!" Gideon clapped Sirius in the back, "you better hope she'll be ok or else I'm not selling you anything anymore!"  
  
"Then I'll just have to find a way to make 'em myself," Sirius flashed him a quick grin, "what happened to you mate, you look so damn serious and responsible tonight?"  
  
"I don't even know," Gideon groaned as he pulled his leather jacket closer, "I really don't," he muttered his eyes searching the crowd.  
  
"The hell..." Sirius followed his gaze, and found the boy staring at a pretty brunette in simple black silk dress robes. Looking a little harder Sirius realized just who it was, "no way! Damn it Gid, why'd you pick her???"  
  
"I dun— WHAT?!" Gid had just broken out of his little trance and stared at Sirius in shock, "what are you talking about?"  
  
"Don't even try to hide it! I saw you staring at her...come on Gid spill! Why are all drooling over little-miss-darkness herself?"  
  
"If you're talking about Dorcas...I don't...screw u Black, I don't have to take this shit," Gideon said now very bright shade of red.  
  
"It's a nice shade of blush you got their Prewett, a little too red but—"  
  
"Sirius, just shut up about this...please?" Gideon looked all serious once again with his yellowish eyes flashing, Sirius just merely smiled.  
  
"Hey, don't worry bout it man. We can never choose who we fall for, every man is a fool to love. If anything I think if we can find Voldie a hot lil pureblood chick he'll get over all this taking over the world thing!" Gid gave him a small smile and left swearing to take Sirius' head if he ever said anything to anyone about the Dorcas thing.  
  
Grinning to himself Sirius made his own way through the crowd, he wasn't going to waste a party like this without getting drunk, as he pushed his way through people he bumped into a tall man. Turning to apologize he found himself looking into the face of a handsome man with graying black hair and dark eyes identical to Sirius'. Sucking in air through his clench teeth Sirius tried to resist making a break for it, after all the last thing he wanted to show them was any kind of weakness, besides he knew if he played it right this could all be a lot of fun.  
  
"Sirius," his father said in calm voice, though his eyes flashed with anger and something else Sirius wasn't able to figure out.  
  
"Martilanous," Sirius tried to match his fathers' tone and expression, Mr. Black didn't seem very amused however.  
  
"I've been meaning to talk to you, if you're capable of an adult conversation without breaking things and running out like savage 5-years- old," Sirius tried to restrain a sneer and instead smiled, a very small overly polite smile.  
  
"Father how is anyone able to be respectable when they are against a roaring beast such as mother? Is she here by the way? If so I'm going to have to work hard at staying far away from that witch."  
  
"That is no way to talk about—Sirius, you are my heir, my first borne son. Why must you disregard your family in such an ungrateful manner?" Mr. Black placed both his large hands on Sirius' shoulder in a would-be- fatherly manner, "you're mother and I might have been hard on you from time to time, but we have always loved you and wanted what is best for you. Remember all the gifts I got you whenever you brought back your marks from the end of the year testing? Why is it that you never appreciated the things we did for you? Don't you understand how much we want to stand behind you and love you—"  
  
"I do, but it's only if I do whatever the hell you say!" Sirius glared at him jerking his hands off of him, "you know dad I don't hate you, not like I hate mom, but you're stinking coward when it comes to her. You can't make me come back, I'm doing just fine on my own!"  
  
"Sirius, are you honestly going to through away all the things I'm going to leave you? I doubt any pureblood family has the amount of money we do, the money you'll inherit if you stop being so damn stubborn and agree to abide by the rules me and your mother set out for you!" Sirius couldn't help himself from laughing out loud receiving a surprised look from his father.  
  
"Money, is that all you think about dad? Well I sure as hell don't, cause I knew exactly what I was leaving behind when I walked out and it wasn't much. Why don't you just keep your money, hand it to Reg for all I care after all you always loved him much more than me. Oh wait I forgot, you're not capable of love, don't you support Voldemort?"  
  
"Watch your mouth," Mr. Black hissed, "defying your family like this won't bring you any—"  
  
"Mr. Black, Sirius, how wonderful to see a father and son engaged in such an intimate discussion together," said a female voice, and Sirius turned to see a very pretty dark skinned woman in her early 30s.  
  
"Marlene McKinnon, how are you sweetie?" Mr. Black said in fake enthusiasm kissing her on each cheek, "how is the little one coming along,"  
  
"Oh he just turned 1 on Christmas day, and he has been a little troublemaker all along. Quite a bit of trouble his been for my first one," she laughed softly patting her flat belly over caramel silk dress robes, Sirius however gasped at her realizing that she was at the Evans helping out on her son's first birthday.  
  
"First? Then—is another one in the way?" Mr. Black said he too staring at her flat tummy and Marlene just laughed.  
  
"The healers have already told me it's a girl."  
  
"Newborn purebloods are definitely something worth celebrating, I'll be sure to remind my wife to send you a lovely gift. It was a very smart move for you to get into the McKinnon as they own the Daily Prophet these days, you're making rich little babies," he winked at her and all of a sudden Marlene's smile seemed a little fake, "it'd be nice if you could teach my son a few things, like how purebloods are to stick together and all the advantages that comes with that."  
  
"What? Sirius, what's this I hear from your dad?" If Sirius didn't know any better he would have thought she really had no clue to what had happened to him. Sirius did know better as Marlene McKinnon was good friends with the Potters and visited them frequently.  
  
"Forget it, I have to go do something. It was nice seeing you Mrs. McKinnon, later dad," and with that he managed to escape as his father seemed to have more to say to the poor woman.  
  
After walking around for about 5 minutes Sirius found someone he was more than happy to talk to. His uncle Alphered was standing with his beautiful muggle wife at the refreshment table and talking to Andrameda who was holding on to her young daughter's hand. Grinning he joined them happy to see that the family outcasts turned out much better than the ones still honoring the Black name. Alphered had made a lot of money from his bars all around the wizard world and muggle world and had apparently married a famous muggle actress, his 4th bride so far. As for Andrameda, she was happily married to a ministry employee who made pretty decent money (she was after all dressed in stylish white silk dress robes) and had a pretty 9- years-old daughter who had inherited her looks from her.  
  
"Sirius, joined the crowd haven't you," his young uncle said laughing as he embraced him, the two had always been very close since Alphered was only 12 or 13 years older than Sirius himself.  
  
"You look even more handsome than the last time I saw you. You have been treating the girls right?" his cousin asked kissing his cheeks, he had also been very close to her too, "too bad Nym wont start Hogwarts until the year after you graduate, it would've been nice if she was shown around by my favorite cousin."  
  
"Wow! She's growing fas—"  
  
"Don't talk like I can't here you," the little girl holding Andrameda's hand now pulled her hand free, glaring at the both of them.  
  
"Sorry kid, nice hair by the way. Green...very earthly," Sirius grinned at her, that glare was identical to Andrameda's, the one she used to wear whenever she caught him stealing candy from their house.  
  
"I'm not a kid," she sniffed in a very Narcissia sort of way, he guessed she was ought to inherit a few things from her family, stubbornness seemed to make the list as well, "but if you must know I'm a metemo...metemorph...uh it's supposed to mean I can change my looks by will! Wanna see?" she looked very eager now.  
  
"Sure—" but he was cut off by a very familiar voice.  
  
"Actually I need a word with Sirius, you can show it to him as soon as we're done," said Regulus grabbing Sirius' shoulder.  
  
"I don't think so," Sirius sneered pulling his shoulder free, "I just had to endure a pointless conversation with dad, I don't have the time for another one with you."  
  
"Sirius please...I need your help! Just—it'll take 5 minutes, no more I promise..." the tone of Regulus' voice hit Sirius the wrong way, it was the way he pleaded. No matter how determined Sirius was to hate him he still wasn't able to walk away, not when he sounded so hopeless.  
  
"Alright, you got 3 minutes. This had better be good little brother," he tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice, which surprisingly wasn't very hard at the moment.  
  
"Thanks," Regulus said with a grateful smile, leading Sirius to a corner away from preying eyes.  
  
A/N: Sorry I haven't written in a while, but now that summer vac is here I'll try to be much better. Hope you guyz liked this chappie and THANKS A MILLION TIMES for your REVIEWS!!!! Please keep reviewing and tell me what you liked and didn't (TT) and if you didn't get something. Keep reading this fic cause I guarantee you a lot of stuff you probably didn't expect is gonna happen. 


	23. Only a Moment to Fall in Love

Disclaimer: I own nutting.  
  
A/N: THANX for your reviews!  
  
"What the hell do you want Regulus?" Sirius snapped the second the two were alone in a corner, Regulus merely shook his head.  
  
"The entire Black family had a little dinner party with Voldemort not too long ago—"  
  
"WHAT?! They still support that fucking asshole?" Sirius growled and Regulus only smiled, though it didn't look very much like a smile as it held no joy or warmth.  
  
"What made you think they'd stop? Anyone who has pureblood honor makes mom and dad's favorites list."  
  
"I dunno, maybe it was all those murders he's committed," Sirius said dryly and Regulus face tightened.  
  
"As far as they're concerned the murders happened cause of mudblood rebels, those who died are considered as the enemy. Nothing to grief over. Besides from what I've read the Daily Prophet barely mentions the deaths, not a single word about kids being killed, not a single word in there agrees with what Dumbledore feeds us at school," Regulus' eyes were glazed over for a second.  
  
"What the hell do you believe Regulus?" Sirius asked locking eyes with his younger brother.  
  
"I-I'm not sure yet," Regulus' eyes were clouded in confusion and his face was pale, the rosy glow Sirius had been used to seeing on his little brother was gone, "Sirius at the party Voldemort...well he was...uh signing up new members..."  
  
"You signed up," Sirius said quietly ripping his eyes away from him, all of a sudden he wasn't sure he could stand looking at his little brother, not without losing his lunch.  
  
"I had to Sirius...mom and dad...everyone was pushing me to it!" the pleading tone in Regulus' voice only increased Sirius' desire to vomit, but instead he started to laugh, softly but so bitter that it stung Regulus where he stood.  
  
"You could've said no and left," Sirius hissed through clenched teeth, "why the fuck are you telling me this Regulus, you think I actually care about what ever the hell you do?"  
  
"I h-had to. I'm not sure why, but I needed you to hear this from me. Sirius maybe Voldemort is not that bad as some are trying to make us bel—"  
  
"AND MAYBE HE IS!" Sirius roared his eyes locking into Regulus', "are you willing to take that chance little bro—Regulus?"  
  
"I don't know. Damn it Sirius you just don't understand! You can fight mom and dad and run out of the house without an ounce of fear or guilt, you were born a rebel...I wasn't! I'm terrified of mom and dad and constantly confused about everything; being 15, girls, Voldemort...I don't know, maybe he doesn't even exist, or mom and dad are idiots, or Dumbledore is. I JUST DON'T KNOW!" soon Regulus' eyes were stormy with tears, tears that managed to tug at Sirius' heartstrings, "what I do know is that I had to tell you about this Sirius, because you were the only one in my whole life that was ever there for me, the only one who helped me out when I needed it...I'm sorry."  
  
"What do you want me to say Regulus?" Sirius asked working hard to keep all emotions out of his voice and face, Regulus gave him a sad smile.  
  
"I don't think it matters, you always say what YOU like anyway," Sirius looked at him one last time before focusing his eyes on his brother's left shoulder.  
  
"I say I hope I never see your stinkin' face ever again!" and with that Sirius shouldered his way past him and tried to get as far away as he could, hoping beyond hope no one would catch a glimpse of his tear streaked face until he managed his way to a bathroom.  
  
The hopelessness in Regulus' eyes had gotten to him big time. It hurt to see his little brother look so broken up and alone. The hardest part was the fact that Sirius knew he was part of the problem, if he had managed to be there for his brother even for his parents' evil reign, just maybe Regulus would've never had to sit through that dinner alone. Maybe if Sirius had stayed in the Black house he could've stopped his filthy family from contaminating his brother in such ways. The guilt was too overwhelming for Sirius, so much so he unconsciously grabbed the neared glass of champagne nearby off of a pretty blond waitress and drowned it in one sip.  
  
After giving the white clad woman a quick thanks and small wink for her pretty eyes, he preceded in his pushing through the crowd and was about to leave the party room just when he saw a tall girl with long silvery locks step onto the stage and putting a stop to the music coming from old wizarding albums. Many eyes now fell and rested on her, she had been the lead singer of the most popular band in the past decade, just until this summer. Sirius watched as well, it was nearly impossible to look away from those engaging green eyes, so dark and twinkling.  
  
All of a sudden music started, soft yet with rough tones hidden underneath blared out all around them, but Sirius didn't feel the goosebumps, at least not until those beautiful lips parted and he heard that strong voice crying out with emotion. For a while he stood absolutely motionless with thoughts of Regulus gone, his mind totally blank of any thing but the melodious sound of Anika's voice. Sirius felt every word leaving Anika's mouth touch him in a way nothing ever had. Her words killed him on the spot. 'Don't ask me to stay. I have to crawl away. Far and wide into the very pit of hell. I can't ask you to come, cause my death is my own fault.' Without even realizing it, Sirius whispered along with her while watching her long pale neck, those beautiful locks of messy silvery hair, and the plane brown dress robes that fell over her body like a thin draping sheet. The way it clung on to her breasts made his heart race. She stood on stage a total mess with dark red lips and barely there dressrobes that were far too thin and clingy, but he loved everything about her at that moment and more than anything the hurt that was transferred into her words. For a long time he just stood there consuming the richness of her warm voice feeling the tears she had shed.  
  
Time seemed to pass by, though Sirius barely noticed. To him nothing mattered, not now. For the very first time in his life he had felt some kind of explosion deep within with a knowledge that would forever hunt him. His heart seemed to burst and melt at the same time all the while his whole body felt numb with excitement and everything that was good in the world. Her voice...those words...Sirius knew that from now on the mere sight of Anika Meadows would kill him on the spot. His heart would no longer race because of the sent of her spicy perfume or those gorgeous long legs, but burst for something else, something deeper...Sirius was sure he had fallen in love just then. In a single moment he was forever changed. After this moment the plainly dressed girl standing on the stage before him had the power to utterly crush everything he held dear while able to make his whole world dance in joy with a single smile. It had taken him only a single moment to fall in love.  
  
"You got what you wanted Evans," James sneered.  
  
He didn't mean to be so bitter, but the night was fading away and that brought an end to this fantasy come alive. While he hadn't exactly fantasized about marrying Lily, he had wished many times to be close to her. James sometimes even wished for 5 minutes of peaceful conversation with the girl of his dreams, just as long as he got to watch her emerald- colored eyes brighten the way they did when she laughed. He'd never admit it but he'd take an hour of watching Lily smile and talk over bedding any girl in Hogwarts. There was something that was special about her, something he had gotten a taste of tonight and never will again. He couldn't stop the bitterness from his voice.  
  
"Every single person in this room is now convinced that we're madly in love, not one of them have any clue that in truth you can't wait to rip my head off!"  
  
"You don't miss much do you," she said softly, and regretted it at the same seeing hurt flicker passed James' face, "besides I wouldn't exactly rip so much as I'd bit it off."  
  
"Oh really?" a small smile now formed on his face, "I think my head is a tad too big for your tiny red lips to form around."  
  
"Umm," Lily felt her cheeks burn red, and realizing what he had just said made James flush be more than a match for Lily's.  
  
"So...we're uh engaged without ever going on a single date. Sounds a tad bit like an arranged marriage to me!" James hastily tried to change the subject, before anyone walked up to them with their faces so red.  
  
"Regretful?" Lily asked in a mock hurt voice, but all the same she seemed grateful for the change of subject.  
  
"Nah! You're too hot," James grinned ducking away before her fist could get his chest, "you gotta be faster Evans...and NOT with your wand!!!"  
  
"Oh ya?" Lily arched an eyebrow before knocking him down to the grassy ground, "don't worry little Potter, I don't need a wand to whip your ass!"  
  
"Lets see it then," James clearly enjoyed the feeling of Lily sitting on top of him with that tight dress of hers, something she noticed, and blushing again she quickly got off of him, "on second thought I'd really rather beat you in a wand duel."  
  
"And here I was shivering in fear!"  
  
"What's scary is your outfit!"  
  
"I was under the impression that you liked it, I mean you kinda did ask me to propose to you in it when for the past 6 years you've done nothing but shout and leer at me! I thought it was the suit that did it."  
  
"I would never want you to propose to me for real, in a goofy tux or in a expensive designer one!"  
  
"Do you really mean that?" James suddenly asked quietly, his eyes so intense Lily felt as though they were burning holes through her.  
  
"Yeah," she was unable to meet his gaze so instead she proceeded to stare at her shoes, "you and I just can never be!"  
  
"That's what you think isn't it? You want everything to be all perfect and organized for you. I bet you'll hate if you ever climaxed before you expected to!" Lily was now glowing redder than she had before from embarrassment and anger.  
  
"That would be none of your business Potter, since you'll never join me in one when we both know how much you want to. Maybe if you weren't such a thick-headed perverted bastard you'd have a chance, but—"  
  
"Can't you two just get along," came Mrs. Potter's firm voice, "if you keep going this way I'll have to get house-elves to guard your bedrooms from you sneaking off to kill each other. Think I'll bet on crazy forbidden sex though, it just seems more likely!"  
  
"Muuum," James glared at her, he really didn't remember ever having blushed so much.  
  
"Well I just had my bet confirmed by the looks on your faces, so why don't you two join the party again. Looks like the McNairs and the Averys just joined us. They're a bit easier to gather information from if you know what I mean," and with that she left the two alone again.  
  
"Shall we," James held out his arm as a sign of truce, and with a small smile Lily slipped her slim arm through his, it was their mutual agreement to never mention this conversation again.  
  
"Sure."  
  
"You're James' cousin right?" asked a tall browned haired boy, staring at Harry and Ron in a way they both seem to consider as odd.  
  
"Yeah, what do you want?" the boy grinned at Harry with a short glance at Ron and turned back to Harry.  
  
"I'm Thomas Baddock, from the Baddock family. All purebloods but I'm in Ravenclaw, I'm kind of an outcast in the family...like you if you know what I mean,"  
  
"Uh?" Harry exchanged a questioning look with Ron, what the hell did the boy mean by 'and outcast like you'? Harry thought bewildered.  
  
"Yeah, hard to believe there are any of us in Hogwarts, I mean there are so many kids from the old traditional families. But hey here I am, so um can I get you a drink or something?" the boy looked at Harry hopefully and Harry just stared back absolutely lost blinking a couple of times before turning to Ron again.  
  
"Ron?" but if anything Ron looked even more confused and suddenly Thomas' face flushed red.  
  
"Omg, oh shit! I'm so sorry!!! I honestly had no idea you two got back together, I mean the word is you broke it off for good! I really had no idea...I should go now," the boy turned away with a short, "see ya around."  
  
"The hell did that bloke mean?" Ron asked scratching his head, and Harry just shook his head.  
  
"We broke what off?" Harry muttered just when Hermione joined them back with butterbeer goblets.  
  
"What are you talking about?" she asked taking a sip of her goblet as Harry began to explain what happened, but before she had the chance to swallow she was spraying butterbeer in Harry's face, "WHAT?!!!"  
  
"Yeah, pretty strange," Ron grinned handing Harry a cloth he had in his pocket.  
  
"I-uh yeah. Crazy kids," Hermione gave a few pathetically fake chuckles, "excuse me, I'll be back in a few minutes!" and with that she pushed past the two and disappeared into the crowd.  
  
"The hell is wrong with everyone today?" Ron asked looking around the room, and Harry just shrugged giving him back his cloth.  
  
"How knows, maybe the drinks are spiked."  
  
"Spiked? With charms you mean?" Ron stared doubtfully into his own drink.  
  
"Or just alcohol," hearing that made Ron grin and drown his goblet.  
  
"Let's hope—"  
  
"HARRY RON!! Glad I found you, I've been looking all around..." a short blond boy Harry didn't even know by name was now talking to both Ron and Harry a mile/second as though they had been long-lost-friends.  
  
"Who are you?" Ron asked rudely, but the boy merely ignored him.  
  
"So I'm guessing I can put you both down for the club? We have meetings only once a week, but we manage to get a lot done. It's important for people like us to have a voice in Hogwarts don't you think?"  
  
"Er...people like us?" Ron stared at him suspiciously, and the blond boy nodded vigorously.  
  
"Didn't you know, there are lots of us in Hogwarts, many of which who are counted amongst the top students of the school. Here my friends we have almost a community and a strong voice! But I must ask, is your friend Hermione one of us?"  
  
"One of wha—" Ron was cut off by Hermione who suddenly appeared behind the short boy, as he couldn't see her, her angry voice made his jump.  
  
"I'M NOT! And neither of them wish to join your stupid club so leave or I'll make you!!!" Perhaps it was the look on Hermione's face or the fact that her wand was out, because the blond boy quickly nodded and left them so fast he nearly tripped over his own feet twice.  
  
"What's going on Hermione? I know you know what this is all about so just explain it to us!" His eyes made Hermione look away blushing.  
  
"No I don't...in fact I have to go. So uh bye," and before either of them could stop her she ran away.  
  
"What do you think we should do now?" Ron asked.  
  
"Find out whatever the hell these people are talking about! Not from the first two kids thou, Thomas looks too embarrassed to want to talk and Hermione certainly seemed to have scared the hell out of the blond kid."  
  
"How then?" Ron had began scratching his head again.  
  
"Someone else will slip up sooner or later." 


	24. Taken Away

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

A/N: this a short chappi, but it'll be important to what'll come later on!

Anika kissed the tip of Dorcas' nose the way she used to when her sister was only a child.

"Why don't you come home? Please Anika...I really miss seeing you in your room!" Dorcas whispered into her sister's ear as they hugged goodbye, making Anika smile. She kissed her a few more time before pulling away.

"What happened at Christmas Eve was more than enough proof to keep me away D, but I promise to take you to North America and Wizard World for the rest of the week. We'll have lots of time to hang out...just like before. I love you too much to stay away!" and with one last kiss Anika left her sister behind and walked out the large Potter party room and out of their mansion.

Since apperating wasn't possible in the Potter's ancient heavily shielded mansion and the grounds around it, the Potters always found a way to have their guests transported to the house from the point in which they could apperate which was a few miles away. This year Mrs. Potter had her friends from Persia send a few dozen exotic flying carpets, each with a design so beautiful it nearly took Anika's breath away as she preceded to get on top of the one standing in midair closest to her. However before she could get on top of it she heard her name being called and turned around to see a glimpse of a tall buff man with his wand out before he hit her with a spell that left her entire body numb and fell to the floor, barely feeling the second spell that hit her and left her unconscious.

Rubbing her head, Anika woke up rather dizzy and bit nauseas. She slowly sat up looking around at the room she was in with surprise. She was lying on an exquisite bed with black silk sheets that felt incredibly soft against her bare arms and feet. The bed was placed in a room so beautiful it took Anika's breath away the walls were curved to make the most beautiful wall drawings she had ever seen, the huge chandelier above her head twinkled with the most exquisite crystals in the world, and the amazingly close view of the planets for the ceiling left her numb.

After taking the room in Anika stared down to realized she was still wearing her old dress robes from the night before. With a small yelp she suddenly remembered something she preferred to have not, the feeling of nausea quickly increased and Anika bend over the bed and retched her stomach empty.

Whipping her mouth with a shaky hand she heard soft footsteps that belong to more than one person and pulled herself up just as the door opened to reveal a tall handsome man with shiny black hair and scarlet eyes dressed in silk black robs with red strips across the chest, two others stood behind him both tall and hooded in black, though she barely noticed. Her shaking went up a notch knowing the man with the red eyes was one to be terrified of. As he opened his mouth his very voice sent chills down Anika's spine, though she had no idea who he was.

"Anika Meadows, I hope you like my house. It's rather lovely isn't it? I thought someone artistic like you would surely appreciate it," he smiled as she gave the room a dark glance, a smile that seemed far too cold, "it's a shame you aren't feeling too well this morning, perhaps another time you would have enjoyed sleeping here more."

Something in his smile made her look over the bed to where she had puked and gasped when she found it clean. How did he know, Anika thought franticly.

"I thought maybe you'd like to join me for breakfast, I had my chefs make dishes so exotic even you'd be impressed," though still smiling his voice had suddenly become much more commanding and Anika knew there was no backing out of this, not that she wasn't going to try.

"Thank you, but I'm not dressed well enough to be dinning so well this morning. Perhaps I can go home and we could try this in the evening," as she said this she got off of the bed and was about to walk to the door, when she saw the man's smile widen a bit, his smile made her feel even more ill.

"That wouldn't be necessarily Ms. Meadows," the man had reached into his dress robes and brought out his wand, before Anika could say anything he gave a short flick of his wrists and the clothes over her body vanished, leaving her standing naked. Her face flushed red as she desperately tried to cover herself feeling violated and weak.

The red eyed man suddenly flicked his wrist again and Anika's body was suddenly covered in gold dress robes that clung to her body like a glove and had tiny rubies woven into the fabric itself. The gorgeous new dress however wasn't enough to fade the frightening memory of her standing there naked, something the red-eyed man had surely intended on!

"How do you like the dress? I can make one even more exquisite with silk even finer than this," he said ready to flick his wand again.

"NO!" Anika exclaimed terrified of standing there naked once again and quickly felt ashamed of her fear and realized sickly that she had fallen right into the man's trap.

"Very well than, follow me into the dining room," he turned around and started out the door, the other two men however stayed behind moving towards the door only after Anika had passed it.


	25. First Try

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Note that even though it was daytime in the last chapter it's still night in this one, as Anika was taken a very far distance away. Anyway thanks for all your reviews, and to answer Emma's concern, I'm trying to have Harry's POV as much as possible, but some stuff has to happen aside from him. However this story isn't only based on Harry's experiences, but other people's too. By the way I'm still gonna have a bit of Herm/Sirius action, but it'll be a bit later on. If this chappi is a bit airy its cause I was listening to "Wait for Sleep" by Dream Theater, I seriously love these guys!

OOOOOO

"Bloody hell!" Ron gasped grabbing Harry's arm, who looked to see what his friend was gaping at, "no way..."

Harry soon realized what was so unbelievable at the sight of a beautiful woman with long locks of very bright almost orange red hair. The woman was rather short but not at all dumpy as Harry remembered her though she did have some pleasing curves. She was talking to Fabian Prewett and Barty Crouch Jr., all the while holding a young boy's hand who had the exact same shade of hair as her.

"That can't be mom..." Ron looked absolutely flabbergasted, "but that's Charlie for sure, I wonder if Bill is here too."

"You wanna go talk to her?" Harry asked a grin starting to spread across his face, "She wont yell at you, I mean since now you're a stranger and all."

"True, let's go. I wanna see if she was always so...so..."

"Motherly?" Harry offered helpfully and Ron shrugged as they passed through the crowd.

"Fabian, how is it going?" Ron called out making Fabian and all those who were in a conversation with him to turn around.

"Hey Ron, this is my older sister Molly and her second son Charlie," Harry managed to kick Ron's shins just in time, as he had just opened his mouth and was probably about to utter out something suspicious. Fabian though laughed at the looks on their faces, "we have a bit of an age difference, about 15 years. We have different moms."

"Oh, how nice," Ron said, still half staring at his mom and Fabian in shock, Harry wasn't any less surprised. If anything he was starting to feel a horrible sensation in his stomach as the realization of Molly's relation to the two Prewett boys surfaced.

"Ron, I have to go," Harry said suddenly and left the group.

Harry felt kind of numb, everywhere he turned he found out about something he would have much rather not. It was like he was destined to soak up in everyone else's sorrow as well as his own, and every time his sense of sympathy kicked in so did the memories of Ministry of Mysteries. He couldn't help feeling nauseous, here he was standing in this beautiful house, a house that was going to be destroyed in only a few years, with all these wonderful people who were all so happy and little did they know that their happiness would only last for a couple more years. After that there was only pain and death left for Fabian and Gideon, Dorcas and Caradoc...his grandparents...his mom and dad...Sirius...

"Harry, why are you looking so glum?" Sirius' voice made Harry's head snap up, the sight of him couldn't have come at a better time.

"I uh...I just remembered something I wish I hadn't," he said realizing that both Benjy and Caradoc were with him.

"Yeah, that happens. You definitely need some cheering up to do, why don't you come with us?" Sirius slipped an arm around a rather shorter Harry.

"Where are you going?" at that Sirius and the two guys snorted.

"Not sure yet, but we're looking for a better party to go to if you know what I mean," Sirius' large grin made him look half his age.

"Come on, live a little," Benjy laughed punching him on the arm.

"Screw that, you're coming whether you want to or not," and with that Sirius took out his wand mockingly threatening Harry with it.

"Alright, alright. I'll come. Is anyone else other than us four coming too?" at that Sirius shook his head irritably.

"Nope, James says he is too busy with important stuff, you know following Lily around like a good little puppy. Remus is too busy cuddling with Hermione, Peter says his parents want him to stay till the end of the party, the Prewetts aren't allowed to leave either...well that's what Gideon says but I know better," at that Sirius gave a few small coughs that sounded suspiciously like 'Meadows' though it went unnoticed to the others, "Shacklebolt and Podmore say they rather get drunk on the champagne here and join their equally drunk parents later on to sing a few Weird Sisters songs on stage."

"That was fun the first few years, but it gets old fast," Benjy said and the other two nodded, "so we're off to a better place all by ourselves."

"If we get busted in by the Ministry I'm going to kill all of you!" Harry pointedly stared at Sirius who grinned once again, "I'm serious!"

"No you're not, I am. Besides all the activities we are about to take part in are absolutely legal...I think."

"Quit worrying," Caradoc said and as always his commanding voice left little room for objections, thus Harry followed the 3 out the Potter's mansion and on top of a flying carpet.

"See even the Potters step over the rules a little, so we're going to as well," Sirius said to Harry, "we're just gonna use Caradoc's wonderful spell shattering techniques to get this flying carpet into our own command."

Harry didn't object, as he was too busy being fascinated with what Caradoc had just done. He could tell that the black haired boy was even more powerful than he thought, though he had no idea how he knew this.

OOOOOOO

"Come in," Lily said as soon as she heard the knock on her door and turned around to see who it was, "Dumbledore?!"

"I came to congratulate you on the brilliant performance you managed to pull tonight. I have to say I was quite impressed with the way you managed to get yourself back on your feet," something in his blue eyes told Lily that he knew about the potion Sirius had given her, but she decided that she was innocent until proven guilty, "however I really don't think you're going to need that much 'strength', you should be able to get over your terrible losses through time and that'll help you grow stronger by itself."

"I don't mean to be rude sir, but I'm very tired at the moment and there is nothing more I'd wish to do than sleep," Lily tried her hardest to keep her voice polite, but couldn't help her cold stare. In her opinion the way she dealt with her parent's loss was her business and no others.

"Very well," Dumbledore gave a short bow of his head and gave her a small sympathetic smile, "this wont take long, I was just hoping that you were ready to do what we had planned. I thought if you feel up to it you might want to give it a try."

At this Lily's eyes brightened. Ever since what had happened to her parents Lily had promised herself that she would do anything in her power to destroy Voldemort, and this was what she was mostly relying on to get the job done. She couldn't stop herself from giving Dumbledore a large grin, which was returned.

"I will be at your side, but even then I can't guarantee you total protection. You've already been told the dangers, choose wisely Lily!" Dumbledore held out a small bottle of some blue-green liquid and Lily quickly took it and without a second thought drowned down all of its contents.

"Am I supposed to go to sleep now?" Dumbledore gave a short nod.

"I will use a few charms I know of to protect you, but I want you to promise to come back if something goes wrong."

"Ok," She said with a yawn and crawled into her comfortable bed.

"The potion I gave you is made to make your body ready for the procedure and it's also here to allow it to fall into deep sleep and keep it from being damaged through this. I really wish you the best of luck and thank you for being so brave," Dumbledore said sitting at Lily's feet on the bed, and watch her fall asleep with one last smile and hope beyond hope that she would wake up the next morning.

Lily was flying. She was on a bird—no, she was the bird. She flew around, but she had no wings. She had no body and certainly no head. It was like she didn't exist in matter but her life lived on. She was alive, she felt free, she felt her loss, she felt love. But she had no arms or anything thought she could fly and dance and do just about anything. She could see the world though she more than saw and felt. It was as if she was for the very first time Lily as a whole, no longer confided to human and Earth laws. Here she was what she truly was born to be.

Though she was in a new reality she remembered. Lily knew what she had to do and she was ready to do it. She was to go to where she could find what she wanted, that part came easy enough. In a millionth of a second she was in middle of an exquisite castle, a place she did not know but she knew it was the right one to be at. Here lay the answer she searched for. She went in deeper with no legs and she was there sooner than she was able to blink. The room was as beautiful as a room could get, the large dinning table even more so. The two people that sat there held more power than they might have known. Not the magical kind of power, but power in ability to change the pattern of the world, change history and what was to come in the future.

The girl was covered in fear, fear the man could smell. He used her power and changed whatever he wished. She wasn't ready to allow him, but Lily knew she would. No one was strong enough to stand against his power, no one that lived yet. Lily watched and listened, she even watched those dressed and hooded in black and red, those who circled the table and moved not an inch unless asked to do so. She didn't need to hear no longer, she already knew. This was the beginning of the spread.

"Lily?" a voice asked her softly seconds before she began to blink, "Where you able—"

"YES!" She cried out sitting up quickly and facing Dumbledore, "he is very smart. His army isn't strong enough and there aren't enough purebloods on his side. Even if he were to get the black-hearted purebloods from other countries there'd still be more that would stand against him. He needs to deceive and win over their favor...and he is going to use her and others to do this. Anika Meadows will fight though, or one that looks like her."

"So he has her," Dumbledore muttered grimly, "any others?"

"Not at the moment, but soon he will. Though he can't have too many for too long or his secret would be revealed."

"Of course," he said dryly and quickly stood up ready to leave, "you must go back to sleep Lily, this might put too much strain on your body if you don't rest enough. Take care." And with that Dumbledore was gone, and it only took Lily a few seconds to fall sleep.


	26. First Time

Disclaimer: I own nuttin. 

"You planning to get up at anytime Potter?" Harry heard Sirius' voice as though from faraway a millisecond before his entire body got drenched with icy water. 

"What the bloody hell—" Harry startled and drenched sat upright in a lightning speed motion, glaring at the grinning tall figure standing at the side of his bed.

"Sorry mate," Sirius said looking anything but, "You have slept through 2 classes, anymore and McGonagall will have your head and mine."

"didn't have to freeze up my ass," Harry snapped grumpily, but Sirius' grin remained.

"I know. It was fun."

"Anyone else sleeping in?" Harry asked through gritting teeth but Sirius didn't seem to notice.

"We all did, James, Peter, and Remus are taking showers…Howdy Jamsie! Harry decided to take his bath in bed…spoiled little prat, isn't he," Sirius as always tackled James not caring that the boy was clad in nothing but a towel.

"Forgot your shampoo?" James threw his shampoo bottle at Harry, who threw it right back. For the first time that day Harry grinned seeing as the white liquid in the bottle exploded out all over Sirius' face.

"Can't get out bathing for one fucking day," Sirius said grimly, but his grin never vanished, "I'll see you two in DADA."

"I'll get you something from the kitchen," James called after him, and Harry grinning to himself got out of bed, "Harry wait, I…uh need to talk to you…"

Harry turned around to find James blushing as he stared intently at his bare feet. Harry wasn't sure what to make of James' expression, or whatever he could see of it anyway, so he made his way back to his bed and sat down. He instantly regretted doing so, for the fact that his covers were still wet and extremely cold. James not being very smart missed Harry's expression and sat down beside him and let out a yelp, but did not get up.

"I heard about…well…I heard about what happened on New Years Eve…" James began, purposely avoiding catching Harry's eye.

"Yeah?" Harry said, sure that by now his face was a much deeper shade of red than James.

"I, um…see since we're related and all I just wanted to tell you that you can always talk to me."

"Ok."

"And well…was it your first time?"

"Er…I…yeah," Harry's face was now burning as though he had a terrible case of flue and his stomach rumbled in pain.

"I think experimenting is great."

"What?"

"Well, you know with a different…um gender."

"Gender?!"

"Yeah, I mean just cause you prefer one over the other doesn't mean you can't get together and have fun with another one."

"What the bloody hells are you getting at James?" Harry stared at James in disbelief, not sure what he was really talking about. James blushed more.

"I mean…well…I think what you did is okay…"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Harry asked, hoping to hell that he wasn't about to get a lecture on the bird and the bees from his young father.

"It wouldn't!" James said quickly, "some might think…well I don't, I mean just cause you're gay I don't think you should confide yourself only to men."

Harry stared at James in absolute disbelief for a few seconds; his mouth opening and closing soundlessly like a fish. But then the words James had just said started to piece together and Harry suddenly understood what he was trying to say.

"You think I'm gay…" Harry said quietly more to himself than James.

"I…I'm sorry if it was supposed to be a secret, I found out by accident—"

"Secret?!!" Harry asked something turning on in his head, he remembered Lily talking about his secret months ago and he had though…"You all think I'm gay?"

"Ron too, right?" James said not catching Harry's surprise.

"No!" James started at him, now it was his turn to be shocked.

"But Herm—I mean I heard he was gay with you…I mean that you two went out!"

"No!!! Ron and I are NOT gay!" Harry said staring at James, not sure which of them was more shocked.

"You really aren't? Cause I mean if you are I think it's totally cool and so does everyone else—"

"Everyone else???! Who else thinks that me and Ron are…" Harry stopped suddenly remembering something, "it was Hermione wasn't it?"

"What do you mean?" James' gaze traveled down to his feet once again.

"She told you guys this, it was her. Those boys at the party…her expression…but why would Hermione do this?" Harry's eyes became unfocused and James shrugged.

"Maybe she's got the hots for you, wouldn't want any girl having a go at you here. You never know with girls," James said and at this Harry stared at him with wide emerald eyes.

"Lily…" Harry whispered making James blink at him.

"What about her?"

"Uh…nothing…it's just, she must have…" Harry wasn't sure how to get out of this one without revealing his true identity so he go up, "I'm gonna go have a long talk with Hermione. I'll explain it all later mate." And with that he dashed out of the dorm room and made it all the way to the common room until he realized he couldn't run off to his 3rd class in wet pajamas.

A/N: Heh he, Harry finally found out the truth. Boy is Hermy gonna get it! Lol! The Half Blood Prince is coming out in a couple more months….life is good!!! Hope y'all liked this chappi.


	27. Dancing in Voldemorts Evil Clutch

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A/N: Wow…I just saw the cover pictures of the HP and the Half-Blood Prince…WOW…it's exciting knowing that it's coming out this summer. A little scary though knowing the 7th one is on its way…Anyway, hope you guys like my story . My story hasn't been translated in French but you are welcome to do so 'Echarpe'. So enjoy this chappie or if not tell me why.

XXXXXXXXX

Forcing down another cup of tea, Anika sighed and got up to her feet. Why do potions always taste so damn disgusting? Bloody herpes! She thought angrily as she made her way to her last period class. Her stomach churned unpleasantly, but she chose to ignore it. Had she not taken any remedial potions she would not be able to function, mentally mainly but her physical health would definitely be in dumps as well. She let out a pained moan before throwing the door open.

Her eyes barely scanned the room as she headed towards the chalkboard and began to scribble. She might not be strong enough, but she was going to arm these kids to fight it.

"But…that's 5 chapters ahead," a girl protested making Anika turn around and glare at her. Her poisonous green eyes faded the color out of the girl's face.

"If you wish to remain uneducated on today's lesson you may leave. I have little desire to carry baggage through such important chapter," as Anika's eyes traveled away from the girl's face they were trapped by another's gaze. For a second Anika was speechless, as though she had just been punching in the face, but then she moved on unsuccessful at making Sirius' stare disappear from her head.

"Ms. Meadows," Lily now called with her hand in the air, "I would love to have you teach us the lesson you have planned, however I am not entirely sure we have enough knowledge to be able to grasp it properly."

"Nicely put Evans," Anika smirked, "what you don't understand is that the chapters we are skipping have little importance to the era in which we live in. There are things in this book however that does. Now without farther complaints turn to page 343. Our new unit will require a lot of mental energy, I suggest you all eat properly at lunch before entering this classroom."

"Extinction of Fear: A Moment is all it takes?" James read out loud exchanging confused looks with Harry.

"Thank you Potter, now why don't you keep reading. Lets see what this chapter is all about."

"Yesss mam," James grinned blowing her a kiss, being forced to read out loud was always a drag according to all the marauders, "Defense against the dark arts rarely relies on the skills and magical ability of the witch or wizard, thought it is widely believed to be. In this chapter we will open your eyes to the fact that fear is what drives a witch/wizard to his/her destruction. It is important to have a strong fountain of knowledge concerning hexes, curses, dangerous creatures, and dark artifacts (and we would hope this far into the course those have been established), but the most important step to winning any duel is the elimination of fear. Fear works as the most effective distraction and bringing it about in your opponent would mean a sure victory for you. Fear however is not something that can be vanquished, not the way an incoming hex is. When it comes to fear your only defense is love. Love is the one thing that will keep you on your feet, the only thing that gives one hope and the ability to reach down and grasp the treasure of courage," James looked up at Anika with astonishment in his eyes, much like every other person in the room.

"Thanks Potter," Anika said smiling to herself at the shocked looks around the room, "what Potter just read out for us is the main focus of this chapter. As you might have already noticed it'll be a little different than the kind of DADA education you have been used to. Nevertheless this stuff is incredibly important. This is only the beginning however, you'll be experiencing material that focus more on your mental state than your physical or technical abilities. Any questions?"

"Will it be on the exam?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"Not directly, but I assure you that your test results will definitely reflect your mental strength far more than your physical. Now to start off the lesson I want you all to imagine the worst 'possible' thing that could happen to you tomorrow and well discuss them. Please be honest, these lessons are extremely important, for now and later. I'll give you a few minutes to think, and the key word being think I don't want any talking. Go!"

Anika made her way to her desk and pushing the papers and all the other stuff away to make enough space for her bottom, she then settled down. Her drugged mind was foggy and at peace yet somewhere deep down someone screamed. She wasn't sure why but something made her look up, her eyes locked into Sirius'. Wow, she breathed, his gray eyes while being unnaturally light still managed to maintain a wall of fiery mystery. She wasn't sure why he was looking at her like that, it was a little sad. Suddenly her breath was caught in her chest and her skin crawled, fighting desperately to keep a scream from escaping her throat she wrenched her eyes away from his. She didn't deserve to be stared at like that; the tense passion and gentle longing were above the vermin she had become. Though trapped in nothingness she still saw it for what it was, she could sense the tender beauty it offered. Scratching her fingernails on the wooden table she forced waves of calm energy to wash over her as she stood up shakily now avoiding Sirius at all costs.

"I think that's enough time," Anika said more breathlessly than she had meant to, clearing her throat she opened her mouth again, "Potter since you seem so talkative today maybe you should go first. Remember not to lie, if you do then I'll just force out the truth."

"Um," James looked a little bewildered but decided to continue on, "the worst possible thing that could happen to me tomorrow is to—"

"Lose a Quidditch match." Lily interrupted making James stare at her his eyes a little sad, but he soon recovered and grinned at her.

"No, there are no games tomorrow. But I assure you if there were that WOULD indeed be my greatest fear! Anyway, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by a certain carrot-top, the worst possible thing that could happen is if Snape sent me a love letter declaring his undying affection. I'm not sure how I would stand the horror." James covered his face with his hands tragically.

"I warned you not to lie," Anika said quietly before raising her wand and hitting James' lips with a flash of blue light, "now tell the truth!"

"The worst thing ever would be to get an owl from mom telling me that dad has been murdered by Voldemort," James' mouth said his eyes wide in shock, but as he finished the blue glow left his lips. The rest of the class was too shocked over Anika's action to gasp at the mention of Voldemort.

"Lets discuss your fear Potter. What makes you fear this?"

"I…well Voldemort is killing everyone these days now isn't he. My parents aren't exactly on his side. I…I suppose it could work out tragically for us in the end," James' face burned red, he wished to hell Anika would not use that spell on him again. He really had no way out of this.

"Tell me Potter if this were to happen why would it be so horrifying to you? What is so terrible about you father moving on to the world of the dead?"

"What…isn't obvious? I mean I would obviously fear my dad dieing! Anyone would," James eyes now flashed angrily, Anika however remained calm.

"Do you believe in heaven?"

"Yes…"

"Do you think your dad will end up there?"

"Yes, of course. I'm sure he will!"

"Then why would it be so terrible if he were to go to heaven?"

"It…it wouldn't" James now looked down a little defeated, "it's just that if he were to die I will be left alone. I guess I'm being shallow, but it would be terrible because he would no longer be able to be around me. I would miss seeing him. He'll be gone from my life forever."

"Do you understand that your greatest fear has little to do with the fate of your father? Do accept that this fear is a reflection of dependence on him and your anxiety of dealing with things on your own?"

"Yes…I do…" James now stared at Anika in disbelief.

"Now that you have this knowledge do you now realize that you could control this fear? Can you now tell yourself to be happy for your father to move to a better place and to trust yourself to get through things on your own?"

"I…I guess. Wow, it's so true…I…wow…" James sounded breathless and his eyes were now glazed over, "I understand."

The other students stared at James and Anika in shock, not sure of what they had just witnessed. Anika however seemed unscathed; she merely glanced at the next person and called on them to share their fear.

"Lets try going down each isle, your next Lupin," Anika said once again settling down on top of her desk.

Listening to the fears of her students and helping them see the source and the link in which it originates from gave Anika some sort of power. It helped her dissect her own fears…come up with a knowledge she was sure belonged to a very few. There was always a choice. She could dance to death under Voldemort's cold icy clutch.


	28. What!

Disclaimer: I own nuttin.

A/N: This chappi is a bit more racy….nothing too dirty, but think chapter one. Anyway hope you enjoy!

"James, can I talk to you for a second."

James Potter would never have thought such simple words would have such a huge impact on him, so much so that he came close to crossing his legs. Trying to seem oblivious to the fact that his face was burning brighter that Lily's hair, he gave her his most charming grin.

"Sure Evans. You can talk to me all you want," she rolled those beautiful emerald eyes of hers, but when they focused back on James sent him shivering waves.

"Take me to your room so we can talk more…intimately," the way she emphasized her last word made James raise an eyebrow. Did she intend to awake such feeling in him?

"Are you—am I missing something?" a coy smile appeared on Lily's face and she turned around and head towards the boys dormitories. Overcome by shock, it took James a few seconds before he could master moving his legs and following her.

James wasn't sure of what to make of Lily's breathy whispering and the suggestive look in her eyes. Quite frankly it made him nervous. It wasn't the act that brought this on; he was no virgin by far (thanks to Sirius! A/N: NO! NOT IN THAT WAY!), but because it was Lily. He was torn between blinded desire for her and concern. Her parents had been gone for more than a month now and aside from occasional imprisonment in her room she acted quite chirpy. Now all of a sudden she acted like she couldn't wait to get his trousers in middle of lunch break…had she not sworn he would never join her in an orgasm?

As he neared the dorm room he shared with his friends, one thing was clear, he was going to sit Lily down and…and…somehow he forgot all about his plan, the date, and his name. There was Lily Evans…all of her. Her dark red hair was perhaps the only thing covering her. If his skin had been burning a few minutes ago then it was on volcanic fire just about now. He had no hope of intelligent thought, none at all as Lily made her way towards him. Pressing her soft warm flesh against his body she roughly pulled down his head and covered his lips with hers in a hungry kiss, from both parties. James' desire for Lily seem to match hers for him, and as her long fingers fiddled with his pants underneath his robes, he no longer had control of anything.

James, his mind completely clean of any protests, groaned softly as Lily straddled him. He could barely take his eyes off of her, the way her breasts bounced, her chest and face were covered in beads of sweat, and the way her long damp waves stuck to her face and body. When she was done he couldn't hold it any longer and finished off. Breathing heavily Lily collapsed onto James chest, and he was just enjoying the feeling of he bare body wrapped around his, when—

"How much is the late night show."

To his horror James looked up to see Sirius, Remus, Harry and Peter all standing at the door of their dormitory. While Sirius had a huge grin, Remus was holding back a smile, Peter was sneaking looks at Lily though thoroughly red in the face, and Harry…well he was rather green and his emerald greens remained stubbornly focus on anything but the naked couple on the floor.

"This was just the sneak preview, our usual matinee runs twice as long," Lily to James and everyone else's shock took her time lifting off of James and seemed oblivious to the fact that she was completely nude, something the guys couldn't dismiss so easily. "Thought you were used to naked girls Black, why look so shocked?"

"Uh…" but it was true, even Sirius couldn't master any words.

Lily pulled a blanket off of James bed and was about to wrap it around herself when her eyes caught on to Harry. He was the only one whose expression had not changed at all, except maybe he was a darker shade of green.

Lily stared at him for a bit the blanket hanging loosely on her arm, "Are you sure you're not gay…" After getting no response she grinned at the others and walked out the dorm room with the blanket still held loosely in her hand.

"Is she the sexiest thing in the world or what?" Sirius said and letting out a howl, Harry gave him a dark disgusted look and bolted out of the room as well.

"Shut up Sirius," James said getting to his feet, and Sirius snored.

"You're one to talk, with the way you set her moaning…half the school heard the two of you cu—"

"Padfoot please!"

"What's wrong," Remus asked surprised at James' expression, Sirius did as James had told him and watched his friend closely.

"Nothing…"

"James…" Remus gave him one of his looks.

"It's no—I just feel so fucking used…" Damn Remus and his looks, James thought darkly.

"You got mind blowing sex the way we saw it, and from the girl you've been lusting for since forever…what's there to feel used about?" Sirius did make since, James had to admit, but something was missing.

"Not the sex…it was pretty awesome…" James grinned to himself, but then he remembered the later part, "it's weird, but I feel like it wasn't Lily I just did. I feel cheated, like I was fooled into thinking it was her, but it really wasn't…what the hell is wrong with me?"

"You're right," Remus said suddenly, his golden eyes widening in shock, "she has been acting so odd lately…this is just farther down that line."

"I uh have to go," Sirius suddenly said, his gray eyes lost in thought as he much like Harry bolted out the door.

Ron and Hermione had just entered the Gryffindore common room to get their stuff for their next class when they saw Harry running down the male dormitory stairs. As he passed them Ron grabbed on to his arm and prevented him from going farther.

"What are you in such a hurry for mate?" Ron asked pulling Harry back, "we have to tell you abou—" his words were cut off as his eyes caught the look of pure revolt on Harry's face.

"Harry…are you okay?" Hermione asked softly her brown eyes filled with shock, and Harry looking too disgusted to talk just shook his head, which added to his green color. He had reached his limit so he bent over and emptied his stomach.

"Harry, tell us!" Ron's voice was rich with urgent worry.

"Isawmyparentsdoingit!" Harry said very quickly, and Ron and Hermione exchanging confused looks said "What?"

"I-SAW-MY-PARENTS-DOING-IT!" Harry said through gritted teeth and just as he realized what he had just said he bend over once more.


	29. Like Father Like Son

Disclaimer: I own nuttin.

A/N: Another racy chapter, though softer than the last ones. Anyway thanks for all your reviews and I hope you guys are still enjoying this story, even after reading about Harry's REAL 6th year! (HBP was soooooooooooo good! )

OOOO

"Are you going to tell me what this is about?" Dumbledore held up the recent issue of 'Witch Weekly' magazine.

Anika was determined to keep her eyes glued to the floor. If she so much as glanced at Dumbledore's pale blue eyes there was no telling what would spill out of her mouth. Truth was even if she tried to explain why she said the horrible things she did in that interview, she would not know how to start. This mess had started too long ago and she sunk farther and farther in without a single clue of how that happened. She however wished she had never spoken so poorly of muggle-bornes or used such foul language. More than anything however she wished that the people reading this would find her just as revolting as she did at this moment, yet she knew that many would be converted and that was the point of this.

"There is nothing to tell. I believe I like every other person in this country have the right to say whatever I please. It's called freedom, perhaps it is a new term for you seeing as you grew in the 16th century, but you better get familiar with it," Anika used every last bit of self control to stop herself from grimacing. She hated being so rude to the one person she respected beyond all else, but there was no other way.

"I understand," Dumbledore said softly without a single trace of anger. Anika now couldn't help but to stare at him, and there in those forgiving eyes of his, she saw that he knew the truth.

Anika's head filled with panic, her first thought was to pack up her bags and run as far and as fast as she could. If Dumbledore knew the truth then her cover was up, she was going to be murdered…then she began to relax. If she were to die then this would all end, no more hiding…betraying herself. But Dumbledore's eyes told her no harm was to come her way…they reassured her that she'd be all right.

"Go to your quarters, presume to be ill for the rest of the day. I will take care of the rest," Dumbledore gave her a small nod before leaving her office.

Anika felt a little dizzy, she wasn't sure what Dumbledore had planned, but she knew she might have a chance now. She swayed a little as she walked, her body seemed to respond well to the ill thoughts in her head. As she closed the door of her quarters she dashed to the bathroom. Her arms around the toilet seat she emptied her stomach and for a terrifying second she imagined seeing blood…again. Gratefully feasting on large gasps of fresh air, she realized that it was just her breakfast. Resting her head on the toilet she desperately begged her horrible memories to stay away. But there was no use. Sobbing uncontrollably she saw a blond girl doubled up on the bathroom floor very near screaming in agony.

OOOOO

"What the bloody hell is up with Harry?" James whispered into Ron's ear the second McGonagall had turned her back to scribble on the board.

"Dunno what you're talking about mate?" Ron said stiffly as though holding back a fit of laughter.

"Spill it Weasley, I know you know the truth! Spill it!" James cried a little too loud, receiving a death glare from McGonagall.

"The only thing that is going to be spilled Mr. Potter is washing detergent as you clean the entire trophy room during your detention tonight," and with that she turned back to the board.

Sighing in relief for not getting a worst punishment James turned back to Ron. "He won't even talk to me anymore. The kid just stares down at his shoes soon as I get close by, mumbles a goodbye and runs outa there! What the hell did I do?"

Ron was now positively quivering with laughter, though his lips were being bitten hard to keep shut, his entire body shook uncontrollably. James was now past frustration and had entered the realm of anger. With his nostrils flaring he dug into his pocket for his wand—

"Don't," Sirius' firm grip on his arm was irritating at first, but became almost comforting as it became gentle, "when Harry's ready to talk he will. There is no point pushing things."

"Sirius just saved your life, feel lucky," James whispered to Ron, his bad mood lingering.

Ron looking alarmed turned around to meet Sirius' grin and turned back shaking his head…and began to quiver in laughter once again. James was just about gritting his teeth in anger when Sirius burst into silence laughter as well. James could not help but let out a growl…a loud one. Once again McGonagall turned around, about to grant him another detention, when James jumped up from his seat positively fuming!

"Professor, as much as I usually enjoy this class I seriously will go insane if I remain here for another second," he glared angrily at Sirius and Ron, "I have to leave!" and with that he moodily made his way towards the door leaving his books and bag behind. Leaving the entire class staring at Ron and Sirius, including McGonagall who looked at a loss for words. Finally she seemed to come to a conclusion and offered a cold look to the two boys.

"Since you two enjoy causing James so much grief, maybe you could redeem yourselves by taking over his detention tonight," and once again she turned back to the board.

"The hell was James so pissed for?" Ron whispered to Sirius.

"He gets moody sometimes, we figure he is just PMSing. He really doesn't stay mad long….its kind of funny actually."

"Right," Ron shrugged turning back, "like father like son."

"What!"

OOOO

As James was about to leave the boys bathroom, the door opened. He didn't pay much attention until he realized he didn't know of any Hogwarts male with long red wavy locks. Before he could even register her face, her arms were wrapped around his waist and her lips brushed his.

"Lily," he gasped.

"Shhhh, we have to be quick or McGonagall will suspect!" She kissed him again.

"Didn't think you'd care," he whispered into her mouth.

"I don't," she said simply settling down on the spot between two sinks, slowly unbuttoning her robes.

"Since when have you turned into such a nympho," James joked, his mind reeling at the site of her and what they were about to do again.

Though he knew later he wouldn't feel so great, there was no denying Lily. He had too many fantasies about her the past few years…he made no objections as she grasped his tie and pulled his head down to hers. While this time she wasn't totally unclothed, her robes were unbuttoned and James saw all he needed to.

Before long Lily had buttoned up and left to go back to class, and a half dazed James Potter stared blankly into the mirror above the sink. He was only half sure that what he just had experienced was real and not merely a figment of his imagination. Nevertheless his cheeks were flushed and he wore a large grin as he reentered his transfiguration class. A grin that soon disappeared as it met McGonagall's crispy stare.

"Mr. Potter would you like to tell us why your shirt and trousers aren't properly done up? I don't suppose a trip to the washroom requires the removal of all your clothes," at this the entire class laughed (Slytherins the hardest), even McGonagall looked as though she was holding back a smile. Meanwhile James' flush evolved into a nice rich tomato red shade.

"Perhaps he was engaged in other activities that do require the removal of his clothes," said the new softer breathier voice of Lily, very well suggesting the worst. James could not help but glare at her. What the hell is she trying to do, he thought darkly, get me murdered?

"Would you be talking from experience Evans? You were gone for quite a long time," said Rosier nastily, to which Lily merely gave him a coy smile.

"Get back to your seat Potter," snapped McGonagall who no longer looked remotely amused. Students sneaking off to have sex during her class was obviously not a topic McGonagall liked to discuss so openly.

James half-consciously carried himself back to his seat, bewildered over his good luck. His little rendezvous with Evans could have earned him a great load of trouble had the mere topic not embarrassed his teacher so much. As he gratefully took his seat his eyes fell on Harry, who was once again a deep shade of green and seemed determined not to look in his direction…or Lily's.

Letting out a soft frustrated growl James sunk back into his chair, all the while watching Hermione pat Harry's back gently and what seemed like offering him soft comforting words. Yet even for Hermione's concerned face she too seemed to resisting with great difficulty from bursting into laughter. Something the shaking Ron beside him was not managing so well.


	30. Slughorn's party

Disclaimer: I own nuttin.

A/N: kikialiena has totally guilt me into updating my fic even though its 2 am right now. Sorry for the delay, but I'm finally a senior so studies are pretty heavy this year and the amount of homework is simply devastating. Anyway thanx for all your reviews.

OOOO

"Well fellows, I have some spiffy news," Sirius said handing out crème colored envelops to James, Remus, Harry, and Ron.

"He is back then?" James asked Sirius excitedly, who nodded with a smirk plastered across his face.

"Just got back early in the morning, Karkroff isn't too happy. But then he always preferred Bulgaria, seems like he is being offered a job at Drumstrang next year."

"Great, so we have a nice little date with the Slytherins tonight," Remus sighed, looking anything but pleased, "think I'll stay back with Peter tonight, old Slug isn't my favorite host."

"Oh come on Remus, don't be a pooper!" Sirius cried, clapping Peter on the back, "Peter will be just fine, he doesn't need you to mommy him. Besides, tonight he invited Ron, Harry, and Hermione…wouldn't leave your little girlfriend alone with the Slytherins now would you?"

"Oh shut up," Remus muttered his cheeks getting flushed.

"Heh he, I bet he reckons the trio have to be pretty special to get protection from Dumbledore," James pondered before popping a chocolate cauldron into his mouth.

"Anyone looking at them would guess the same," Sirius winked at Harry and Ron making them laugh.

Harry though felt a little sick at the pit of his stomach, oh he was special, only Slughorn didn't know just how much…yet. He also didn't quite enjoy the prospect of sitting in a small room with James, who would (as he had been doing in the past few days) force his presence on Harry. As much as Harry disliked causing his father hurt, he simply could not look him in the eyes or he'd end up vomiting all over the poor boy. He had thought perhaps the memories of that horrible afternoon would soon disappear…but he had no luck there. Everywhere he went people were making snide remarks about James and Lily and their very numerous rendezvous. Worst of all however was the constant jesting of Remus and Sirius when it came to this matter.

"Well…what are we waiting for," Ron said urgently, getting to his feet, "Slughorn's invitation says 8:00 pm, we're already late!"

"Just get your wand ready Ron," Sirius advised, grinning down at his own, "There are a bunch of jolly ol' people already settled there."

"Sirius, you do remember the last time wands were wiped out in old Slug's parties, right?" Remus said frowning at him, but Sirius' grin merely became wider.

"Sure, the Slytherins were turned into a bunch of ducklings."

"So were we."

"So?" Sirius shrugged, "I enjoyed the duck life. Those prats get to prance around naked…lucky bastards!"

They all snorted at this. As they left the dormitory they waved bye to Peter who looked extremely envious, though he tried to hide it. Harry noticed Ron looked rather pleased, it seemed as though getting an invite to Slughorn's party made him appreciate the Marauders' era in Hogwarts more so.

"We'll make it up to Peter," Sirius told a bummed looking Remus as he threw an arm over his shoulder.

"Yeah, well I don't think it'll be enough," Remus sighed making Sirius sniff guiltily.

As they pushed the door Harry was surprised to see such a full room, it seemed as though in this era Slughorn found a large number of talented, well-connected, and would-be successful students. The classroom bore the Prewett brothers, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Caradoc Dearborn, Barty Crouch jr., Lily, Hermione, a 7th year Hufflepuff called Edgar Bones, and a group of Slytherins Harry knew only too well. If anything the room seemed to be divided amongst the middle. On one side there were the Gryffindors and Bones, and on the other the Slytherins, all glaring at the new comers with hatred.

Harry's eyes lingered for a second on the spiteful face of Snape, then moved on to the two boys closest to him. The tall one with glinting silver-blue eyes was Evan Rosier, and the one with sharp features and high cheekbones was Attila Wilkes. A girl who bore great resemblance to Attila sat next to him, what struck Harry was her striking beauty and definite resemblance to Blaise Zabini. Next to her were the cold features of the Rabastan Lestranges, and next to him was Bellatrix Black wearing and odd expression. A little away from the rest sat Dorcas Meadows in mini-Quidditch robes (of the CC) with knee high green and silver striped socks. Beside Dorcas sat another boy, an extremely handsome one. Had Harry not known better he would have thought he was looking across into the stormy gray eyes of his godfather. The faces of Sirius and Regulus looked as identical as James to Harry's, yet as Harry looked closer the exhausted fear that seemed stretched over the younger boy's face was all his own.

Harry sat down beside Hermione watching the aura passed between the two brothers. While Regulus stared at Sirius in a mournful silence, Sirius tried to pretend the Slytherin half of the room didn't exist. Their expressions changed little throughout the night. His eyes were transfixed on the two boys until his father's voice interrupted Slughorn's tales on Anika Meadows.

"THAT FUCKING BITCH!" James blurted out making all eyes jerk towards him, "what a horrible fucking person," James said again oblivious to the attention he was getting, his eyes glued onto this week's issue of Witch Weekly.

"Potter, Potter, watch you language son," Slughorn said with an amused look on his face, "is there something you want to share with us?"

James now looked up, his cheeks reddening as he became aware of all the eyes on him. A second later his face paled and his hazel eyes grew cold. He stared at Dorcas for a full minute before he spoke again.

"There is something I'd like to share, only with her," and before anyone could say anything the issue of Witch Weekly was sent into the air and towards Dorcas, who caught it gracefully.

For the next while the entire class watched James watch Dorcas as she read the magazine. It seemed as every second went by, Dorcas' face grew more and more sallow. After a while she seemed to have finished, and slowly looked up. Her eyes seem to lock into James' and her lips curled into an ugly grimace.

"You're loving this aren't you?" she said staring at James in cold anger, "It proves every filth you ever believed about us."

"It's hard to argue that," he shot back.

"This isn't my sister talking—"

"Last time I checked this was an interview of hers. This one goes much farther than the past few, though her filthy blood beliefs were apparent in the very first—" Dorcas' pale face blanched even more so.

"There are others?" her eyes widened at Harry's nods.

"This has been going on for a while—Where are you going?" James called after her as she bolted out, "stupid Slytherins, always surprised at their own filth."

"Shut up James!" Gideon snarled making everyone look at him.

"Since when—"

"Back off Dorcas. Just stop being such a fucking ass!" and with that Gideon got up and left.

After a few minutes of silence Sirius was the first to speak. Quietly he asked James what was in the article, making the disgusted look on James' face even more so.

"Looks like blondie Meadows is off to the Euro Witch Festival, only playing her new songs. Sounds like she is going farther to spread her filthy massage. It irks me beyond belief that some stupid shitheads out there are still supporting her."

"You saw the look on Dorcas' face."

"So?"

"So she very obviously isn't one of the shitheads," at this James' eyes narrowed glaring at Sirius, who seemed completely oblivious to the change.

"What is that—"

"Think I'll call it a night. See ya all," and with a would-be merry wave Sirius got up to leave the room after Dorcas

OOOOOO

A/N: Before you get mad about the Peter treatment in this chap remember that I'm going to clear things up by the next one. I find it highly doubtful the Marauders would be rude to one of their own.


	31. Last Chance to Leave

Disclaimer: I own nutting.

"I wouldn't understand?" Dorcas whispered tears slithering down her pale cheeks, "you're right, I don't."

Anika felt a wave of nausea pass her at the site of her sister's tears, but other wise she felt numb. The potion she cooked up had kicked in. She sled down onto the closest chair to her, watching Dorcas' back.

"I would think you were under Imperius, but he wouldn't get you to destroy yourself with toxic drugs. What has he got over you?" Sirius' voice hissed from behind Anika, making her jump slightly.

"I don't know what you're—" Anika's voice cut off as she turned around and caught sight of him.

"Don't play dumb—uh…" Sirius' eyes illuminated shock as Anika had seductively slipped out of her chair and advanced towards him, her eyes fiery with desire.

"I don't wanna play dumb, I just want to _play_," She whispered into his ear, her hands fiddling with his belt buckle. Sirius' shock was starting to wear off, but desire was beginning to fog him. As she hungrily bit his neck, his is reasons for sneaking into her office no longer existed.

"Listen, this isn't the time—" He pushed her hands away from his zipper, but Anika merely laughed and covered his lips with hers. With her warm tongue in his mouth, Sirius could no longer think clearly. He let her hands wander were ever she liked, sending electric waves down his spine.

"Have you ever wondered what I look like unrobed?" She pulled away from him and began to unbutton her robes slowly. Once the silk material covered the floor, Sirius watched for mere seconds before roughly pulling her back into his arms and her tongue down his throat. "I presume you like it," she panted slightly.

"Perhaps," Sirius whispered his lips brushing hers.

"Alright then," she pulled herself away and using both hands cleared off her desk. "Last chance to leave." Grinning roguishly, Sirius pushed her down on to it.

OOOOO

"Why were you at Slughorn's?" Hermione asked her head resting on Remus' chest as they rested on his bed. Catching the look on his face she flushed and tried to quickly explain herself, "I mean you always complain about Potions and well you aren't the best at it…"

"It's okay," he chuckled slightly, "Old Slug has taken liking of me since I jinxed 3 Slytherins single handedly the first week I was here. Said I was powerful and had class doing the dirty deed. Heh he…he is a nutter." Hermione grinned looking up at him.

"I think he is right. You do have class, even when doing dirty deeds…" there was a second when their eyes locked before they both burst into laughter.

"We rarely go to the get togethers though, it's not cool to leave Peter behind," Remus continued on.

"That's very considerate," she smiled reaching up and brushing away his brown hair out of his eyes. "But then, you're always considerate." Her fingers brushed past his cheeks, and touched his lips tenderly. Remus' golden eyes gleamed and before long he pulled Hermione on top of him, covering her with warm passionate kisses.

Her dry lips lovingly brushing his, she mournfully whispered, "I don't know what to do when I have to leave you."

"Then don't," Remus said kissing her again.

Hermione let herself drown in his kisses feeling warm all over, but in the back of her mind she knew she was going to weep in her bed, foreseeing the heartbreak to come. Why did I have to fall so hard for him? She cursed herself and him, for good measures.

A/N: Anika's actions seem familiar, don't you think?


End file.
